Happenstance
by G.Storm59
Summary: Gokudera and Hibari keep finding themselves forced to interact due to circumstance, and for both of them these encounters are best to be forgotten. However, something prevents them from being forgotten, and Gokudera doesn't know what he wants or how he feels as he begins an uneasy and uncertain relationship with Namimori's deadliest citizen.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N) Ah, finally, some 1859! I've been meaning to write these two for ages, and just never got around to it, haha. But after taking forever, I've finally gotten here! I already have the whole thing written out, so I'll be posting it in weekly installments (hopefully I don't forget). I can't see it being more than five chapters, as it ironically came out to 59 pages on my word document (lol Gokudera).**  
 **So anyway, I hope you enjoy! This was fun for me to write! C:**  
 **Oh also this starts off during the Mukuro arc. I doubt any of you reading this haven't gotten there yet, but just in case, spoilers.**

The fight was not going well.

It had, at first. Gokudera had had a clear plan for the first time in years and he knew that the indoors setting would give him the advantage. The more obstacles, the better. Chikusa was unprepared for the tricks that the bomber had used, and, luckily for Gokudera, was still battered from their last fight.

That's all it could be called: a fight. It wasn't a battle, at least not anymore. They were both so determined, so pissed off (at least on the bomber's part) that it couldn't really be called a sophisticated battle. Gokudera was using every little dirty, optical trick he had; Chikusa in turn was swinging his yo-yos so fast that the strings were tripping the bomber up in a complicated web that was surely illegal in standard battles. When weapon hit weapon, the bomber could feel the strong desire to win emitting from both parties. Their reasons were completely different, but their hearts were united.

Though he always acted pissed off, Gokudera actually enjoyed these fights the best. He loved when both parties were passionate to win; it made it _interesting_. He'd grown up on the streets, had his fair number of battles, but none of those had ever been enjoyable. Those had been necessary only for survival.

Nothing got his blood pumping like a real fight.

That was before, however, Shamal's fucking Trident Mosquito's side effects started hitting the bomber again. Pain exploded in his chest and it was so prominent, so hard to breathe through, that he couldn't even throw his dynamite. They dropped to the floor in a useless clatter.

"Shit, not now," he muttered as he stumbled into a wall for support.

He was barely there before a different kind of pain stabbed his chest. Faintly he heard the sound of glass breaking as long claws struck deep into his chest, reopening wounds that he'd gotten from his first battle with Chikusa. He heard an animalistic laugh come from behind him and he grunted as he tried to ignore the pain of Ken's claws.

Everything hurt so bad he thought he was going to die. Slowly, he stumbled away from the window when Ken released him, dropping to one knee when he reached the middle of the corridor. He turned to face the window as he clutched his chest, panting. Blood oozed past his fingers at an alarming rate and his vision turned fuzzy as he glared at Ken's form in the window.

Dammit, he _couldn't_ die now! The Tenth was relying on him to knock out these two bastards!

"You're alive," Chikusa said to Ken, as if he couldn't believe it. Gokudera cursed them both internally – he was in too much pain, otherwise he would've cursed them out loud.

"Yeah, though I thought I was going to die!" Ken laughed as he pulled himself fully through the window. He sent a glare the bomber's way, which Gokudera returned. He wished the animal bastard _had_ died. Leave it to the baseball idiot to leave a job unfinished.

Panting heavily, Gokudera tried to stand. He had plenty more dynamite, and if he could just get himself moving again he might have a fighting chance…

However, life had a different plan for him as he stumbled back into what he thought was a curtain over a wall. Though it was a curtain, it was not, in fact, over a wall. Behind the curtain was nothing, and Gokudera didn't have the energy necessary to rebalance himself. With a grunt of pain, he fell into the curtain as it broke free of its loose hinges and sent Gokudera all the way down a slightly decaying staircase.

As the bomber lay there at the bottom of the stairs, practically immobilized, he could hear the animal freak taunting him from above. Even one of the birds that had belonged to that perverted old man landed on a ledge just behind him and chirped taunts. Really though – he couldn't have retaliated, no matter how much he wanted to. He felt like if he broke every bone in his body it wouldn't hurt as much as his chest and back did then. His clothes were slowly getting more and more soaked, and it didn't take him long to realize that blood was pooling around him from his serious chest wounds. His breaths were coming in short, wheezed gasps. He would pass out soon if he didn't do something.

But what could he do? There was no way he could fight back. The moment Ken and Chikusa came down the staircase, he was dead. The Tenth would be so disappointed in him, and he would forever be remembered as the useless bastard who never belonged. The thought of that made him want to die immediately.

Suddenly, however, he heard something else. The damn bird stopped taunting him, and instead began to sing. As the high-pitched, out of tune noise reached his ears, Gokudera recognized it as Namimori's goddamn school anthem.

He groaned. That was _not_ what he wanted to hear as he died.

However, it soon occurred to him: how the hell had that stupid bird learned Namimori Middle's anthem? There was no way it could've heard it, unless…. Gokudera suddenly remembered when they had found a phone earlier, destroyed. He remembered exactly who the phone had belonged to, and exactly what their ringtone was. As the bomber focused on the area of the wall that the bird was sitting on, he noticed a bruised tonfa lying on the ground.

Gokudera actually laughed. He had to be the unluckiest man in the world, while simultaneously being the luckiest.

With his last remaining strength, Gokudera swiped a stick of dynamite across the cigarette that was somehow still lit in his mouth. As the fuse burned, the bomber threw the weapon straight behind him at the wall where the yellow bird was perched.

As an explosion racked his ear drums, and he felt the heat drain over him, he somehow heard Ken, who was still laughing at him. "Where are you aiming?!"

Gokudera, however, just had a satisfied smirk on his face. Though he knew the person he'd just freed would never help him voluntarily, he also knew they would be just itching for a fight with the bastards up the stairs. After all…

"Only you could like that damn song so much."

The smoke cleared. The silence that followed was almost more deafening than the explosion itself. Gokudera heard the two Kokuyo bastards inhale; they had finally noticed what they had overlooked. Without even having to look back, the bomber could feel a murderous aura diffuse through the air. He smirked confidently.

"Kyouya Hibari," Chikusa stated, an almost mistakable note of fear edging his otherwise monotone voice.

"You look well," Gokudera grunted as he looked back at Hibari. Sarcasm was an understatement: the bomber had never seen the skylark look worse. His Namimori jacket had been abandoned somewhere, leaving Hibari in just his black pants and white over shirt. A huge blood stain painted the lower corner of his shirt and the whole uniform was covered in dust and skid marks. When Hibari raised his head, he had bruises and dried cuts all over his usually clean face. The bruise under his eye was so dark that it looked like a chunk of his cheek was missing.

If this was his outward appearance, Gokudera had no idea how his innards were. He probably had millions of broken bones and a ruptured spleen. But hell, the bomber knew that Hibari would be able to get up and fight even if he'd taken a bullet to the brain. To the immobilized teen on the ground, a mobile Hibari was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"No way! This zombie is your reinforcement?" Ken laughed, obviously not taking the hint. Gokudera noticed that Chikusa smartly kept his mouth shut.

"I would have gotten out myself, but…" Hibari stated darkly as he stumbled to his feet. Gokudera didn't think he'd _ever_ seen the skylark stumble before. That'd be a nice piece of blackmail once all of this was over. Hibari stared at him with his hard gaze; the bomber worried for a moment that he could read minds before he finished his sentence, "This works too."

… Was Gokudera supposed to take that as a thank you? He probably should, since it was the closest the damn prefect would ever get to saying it.

"Leave those two to me," Hibari growled with a scary smile on his face, accented by the blood dripping from his lip as a cut reopened.

"I was planning on it," Gokudera muttered sarcastically. Hibari ignored him.

As the prefect took a threatening step towards the animal and yo-yo freaks, the yellow bird landed on his shoulder. The bomber briefly heard the Kokuyo bastards muttering disbelievingly about how Hibari had trained the little bird. Gokudera really wasn't that surprised, but at the moment he couldn't care less. Now he could just close his eyes for a moment and let his escapee take care of the rest…

For the next few moments, Gokudera's rest was accompanied with grunts of pain and sarcastic comments from Hibari. Though the battle was happening right above his head, the bomber felt like it was all far away – it had nothing to do with him anymore. He'd unleashed the beast. Though Hibari's fighting styles had once shocked and disgusted him, he thought in that moment that the sound of tonfa hitting skin and bone had never been sweeter.

The moment passed all too soon.

"Wake up." That was Hibari, his voice accompanied with a kick to Gokudera's ribs.

The bomber groaned, peeling his eyes open to look up at the skylark. He was panting more than he probably wanted to admit, but other than that Hibari looked perfectly fine. Cheeky bastard. Gokudera glared at him as he struggled to prop himself up with his elbows. "I'm working on it, you bastard. Your damn kicking isn't helping anything."

Hibari just narrowed his eyes before he lifted his foot back to kick Gokudera again. Before he could, however, he lost his balance and had to lean against the nearby wall to prevent himself from falling over. Blood was seeping from a wound on his stomach. Gokudera almost laughed, before he realized that was a death wish; even so, he was glad to see that Hibari was in a similar condition as he was. The man wasn't _completely_ invincible.

"So you can be wounded," Gokudera sneered as he attempted to stand. He managed to do it, though pain was making his vision swarm, and he didn't stay up for long. He walked a few steps before the pain in his chest forced him to stop. He started to fall forwards, right towards Hibari.

"Shit!"

To his utter surprise, the skylark caught him. Sort of. If he had been in any great condition himself, Hibari probably would've been able to prevent either of them from hitting the ground. As it was, they ended up falling together; Gokudera with his hands and knees on the floor and Hibari down on one knee with his arm resting on the bomber's back. Neither were comfortable with their position, but neither had the energy to do anything about it.

"Herbivore," Hibari panted, though he didn't move, "I'm going to bite you to death."

"Can you maybe wait until later?" Gokudera snarled, turning his head a little to glare the skylark's way. "Otherwise we'll never get back to wipe the smug smirk off that damn Mukuro's face."

Hibari grit his teeth but, for once, they seemed to agree on something. Leaning against the wall nearest to him, the skylark used it to help him stand. With his one arm across Gokudera's back, he wrapped the other one over the bomber's chest to carry him up with him. Gokudera put one foot under him and lifted a hand to grip Hibari's bicep to give him leverage so he could stand.

Somehow, they made it to their feet.

"Oh by the way," Gokudera panted as he suddenly remembered and reached into his pocket to pull out a small white bag. He was glad to see it hadn't been dislodged during his fight with Chikusa and Ken. He forced it into Hibari's hand. "I heard you're afraid of cherry blossoms."

Hibari glared down at the small bag. "If this is a cherry blossom stem, you'll die right here."

"It's not! I wouldn't fucking _immobilize_ you while that damn Mukuro still needs beating up! It's _medicine!_ " Gokudera exploded, his short temper already defusing. Why did Hibari have to make everything so fucking difficult?! "Shamal gave it to me. It'll heal your disease, bastard."

The skylark shifted his glare to the bomber momentarily before he started to tear open the bag. Since one of his arms was wrapped around the bomber, Gokudera had to help him. After a moment of struggle, they managed to get the medicine out. Gokudera then had to pretty much force the damn stuff down Hibari's throat as the prefect stubbornly proclaimed he didn't have any water.

Fucktard.

After that whole ordeal, it was a moment before either had the energy to move from their position. Gokudera dreaded it already; if it took that much effort and teamwork just to make it to their feet, it was going to be a _long_ walk.

"I'm only doing this because I owe you a debt," Hibari growled. Gokudera didn't even have to look to know he was glaring at him. "Don't think I want to associate with you, herbivore."

For some reason, that made Gokudera angry. Normally he shouldn't care if Hibari gave a rat's ass about him. Perhaps it was the way he had to point it out that pissed the bomber off; the feeling was mutual, so what was the point in bringing it up? Gokudera had to physically bite his tongue to prevent himself from lashing out at the bastard prefect; they'd never get anywhere if they dissolved into fighting before they even took one step. "You're wasting time and energy talking. Let's go."

"Don't order me around, herbivore," Hibari growled, but he helped Gokudera lace his arm around his shoulders as they took their first step forward.

Progress was slow. _Painfully_ slow. They were both relying so heavily on the other that it was hard to move without someone stumbling, and every time that happened they had to stop to take a breather. Gokudera began growling and muttering curses under his breath at everything and anything, while Hibari just tried to conceal his pained wheezing.

At this rate, the battle would be over before they even made it to the end of the hall.

It seemed like an eternity before they reached the room where Gokudera had started his fight with Chikusa. He sighed in relief, but that soon turned into a painful hacking. The bomber was finding it harder and harder to breathe as they went along, with blood seeping out of his chest and his heart clenching painfully. Shamal's side effects seemed to have died down for the most part, but sometimes they would act up briefly; when that happened, Hibari was forced to drag Gokudera along as the bomber was momentarily immobilized.

He didn't know how he hadn't been bitten to death yet. Maybe because Hibari was in no great condition, either.

Throughout the death march, all Gokudera had been able to hear was his head pounding and Hibari's ragged breaths in his ear. When he managed to glance over at the skylark, he saw him with his gaze fixed straight ahead, teeth clenched. The bomber could tell that he was in pain (to hell if he was too proud to admit it), and that the trip was just as hard for him as it was for Gokudera, and that thought made him feel a bit better.

More blackmail material.

"Finally! We're almost there!" Gokudera panted as the two Namimori students dragged themselves into the corridor that led to the second floor. However, his relief immediately drained from his tired body as he stared in disbelief down the hall.

All they faced was a creaky old ladder.

"… Well fuck."

He'd forgotten about that.

Hibari nodded, his mouth tight, and Gokudera was concerned to note that they now had twice agreed on something. The skylark scrutinized the ladder when they dragged themselves closer, as if it'd done him some personal wrong. "I'll have to carry you up, herbivore."

" _What?!"_ Gokudera was convinced he hadn't heard right. Hibari had _not_ just offered to….

The prefect suddenly kneeled forward, letting go of the bomber as he showed his back to him. Gokudera almost stumbled forward onto him with his sudden lack of support, but managed to regain his balance. He looked at the skylark in disbelief. His hands were linked behind his back, his meaning now all too clear. Hibari glared back at the bomber, as if daring him to say something about his demeaning position. "Get on."

"I'm _not_ getting on your back!" Gokudera screeched, his face flushing against his will. It would be beyond embarrassing to return to the Tenth piggybacking on Hibari. Gods, just the mental image….

"Then stay behind," Hibari snapped. Gokudera thought he saw a flash of impatience in his eyes.

The bomber hesitated before he relented. While it would be unbelievably embarrassing, Gokudera knew he wouldn't be able to climb up the ladder on his own. Though seriously, could Hibari even do it? He'd barely been able to walk down the corridor himself…

Steeling himself, Gokudera pushed aside his doubts and climbed onto the prefect's back. Though he was beyond embarrassed, and his hands were itching to blow something up, he found he was strangely _comfortable_. Despite being such a hard person personality wise, Hibari's back was soft and supportive, perfect for piggybacking. An image of Hibari piggybacking small children around a playground with a monotone expression on his face popped into the bomber's head and he had to hold back laughter.

If he let on he found the whole situation amusing, Hibari might just drop him and leave him behind after all.

Hibari stood abruptly, jostling Gokudera uncomfortably as they adjusted into a more stable position. The skylark then tried to take a step forward, though he stumbled and they fell towards the wall; Gokudera barely grabbed a rung of the ladder to support them before they both slammed their faces into hard cement.

"Shit!" Gokudera muttered as he felt blood drip down his nose. He unconsciously wrapped his arm around the prefect's neck to stabilize himself as Hibari pulled back from the wall. "Are you sure you can do this, Hibari?"

Hibari just panted as he stared straight ahead and grabbed a different rung of the ladder. "We're even after this, herbivore."

"Just as long as you never mention this to anyone," Gokudera replied drily before he focused on the task at hand. Keeping his hand on the ladder rung, he stabilized the pair as Hibari lifted his foot off the ground and began climbing the ladder. As the skylark progressed a few steps, Gokudera would reach out with his other hand to grab a higher rung while his previously gripping hand snapped down around Hibari's neck so he wouldn't fall.

Through this method, they slowly climbed up the ladder. Gokudera was suddenly glad for two things in that moment: one that no one else was around to see the embarrassing endeavor, and two that he was worryingly underweight. If he'd been a more normal weight, the bomber didn't think they ever would've made it past the first few rungs.

As it was, somehow, they made it to the top of the ladder. Gokudera scrambled off of Hibari as soon as they touched solid ground and nearly collapsed; his muscles had fallen asleep riding on the skylark and were now screaming in pain at having to work again. He looked around for the prefect, hoping he could take advantage of his presence and lean on him again.

Hibari, however, had keeled over. He was on his hands and knees on the ground, panting heavily. His stomach wound was bleeding again and occasionally he coughed up blood. It was not a good sight to see.

Gokudera was surprised to realize that he was worried about the prefect.

"Shit, Hibari, are you okay?" Gokudera started towards him and fell flat on his face. Dammit, nothing wanted to work for him! He laid there for a while, panting almost as hard as Hibari as the Trident Mosquito side effects worked up again. His wounds were making his vision fuzzy and he couldn't get the taste of blood out of his mouth. Hibari was coughing so hard he couldn't respond.

This was it. This was how the two of them were going to die. Pathetically and stupidly.

Suddenly he felt arms grab him under his armpits and heave him upwards; though it scared the crap out of him, he didn't have the energy to do anything about it. He somehow found his feet as his vision swam back into focus.

It was Hibari, supporting him again. There was blood dripping down his mouth, and he looked pissed, but Gokudera didn't care. Hope actually rose in him; if Hibari could still move, then maybe they had a fighting chance after all. He wasn't sure why the skylark was still helping him, maybe he still needed the support, but that didn't matter in that moment. All that mattered was making it back to Mukuro and the Tenth.

"Are _you_ okay?" The question unexpectedly came out of Hibari's mouth as he wrapped his arm around Gokudera's waist to support him better. He then forced Gokudera's arm around his shoulder until they were back in their original position.

"Just… give me a second." Gokudera focused on breathing through the pain in his chest. When he felt the pain start to clear with a refreshing clarity, he sent a teasing smirk towards the skylark. "But I'm surprised you're still helping me – didn't you say we were even after that whole ladder expedition?"

Hibari didn't answer and instead opted to start moving forward. Though the bomber was surprised by Hibari's tolerance of the teasing, he decided not to comment as he stumbled through the first couple of steps. Eventually he found a rhythm and the two Namimori students slowly made their way down the hall.

Gokudera wondered if they would make it. Neither of them were moving as well as they had before, and the bomber was having a really hard time focusing on his surroundings. All that existed in the world was Hibari. And that was bringing along with it delusional thoughts. Hibari was warm, though Gokudera couldn't tell if it was because of his body heat or because of the blood pouring off of him; whatever the reason, it was making it hard for the bomber to keep his eyes open. Hibari's warmth was comforting, and he couldn't stop thinking that he fit really well into the space between Hibari's arm and body. Not only that, but he smelled nice: underneath the blood was the really good smell of the forest. Wondering what deodorant Hibari used and where he could get some, Gokudera couldn't even find it in him to be disturbed by his thoughts.

Like he said. Delusional.

As his vision became blurry again, and darkness started touching the edges, Hibari's voice in his ear broke his delusions. "Herbivore, stay with me."

"Ugnh." Gokudera had no idea what noise came out of him in that moment. He wasn't even sure if it was supposed to be a reply or just a grunt of effort.

Hibari clicked his tongue before he went back to ignoring Gokudera. Apparently he'd deemed the bomber a lost cause and was finding it a waste of effort to deal with him. That was good – Gokudera didn't think he could respond or make any more of an effort than he already was. Every step felt like someone had lined his shoes with lead and was forcing him to walk through a river. He was so far gone that he didn't even feel pain anymore, just a numbness that coated his entire body.

He was sure that, if it wasn't for Hibari, he would be dead.

Before he knew it, however, he could hear voices up ahead. The Tenth was screeching in fear while some other asshole was laughing a _really_ annoying laugh. That brought Gokudera back to reality; he suddenly felt a clarity in his head as the world came back into focus.

However, that unfortunately brought the pain back as well.

"Fuck, this sucks," Gokudera growled to no one in particular. He felt Hibari glance at him. "But at least we're almost there!"

"Huh. Welcome back, herbivore." Hibari stared at him for a little bit before he turned his attention back to the corridor ahead. "Time to bite that pineapple bastard to death. You ready?"

Gokudera scoffed. "I'm always ready!"

"That's a lie."

The bomber ignored that comment and focused on his surroundings again. His body was still exhausted, so he knew he had to prepare his energy in advance if he was going to survive Mukuro. He had to use every ounce of energy left in his body to make sure he wasn't sluggish. Though he really didn't know what he was going to do when Hibari left him to beat up Mukuro. Could he even stand without the skylark's support?

He'd have to. The Tenth was relying on him.

They reached the doorway. It was a relief to stop walking, even if the sight inside got his adrenaline pumping.

His boss was sitting on the ground with Reborn at his side, facing a blue pineapple-haired man who the bomber assumed to be Mukuro. One of his eyes had a strange red glow coming from it and he held a trident in his hand. His mouth was moving, but Gokudera couldn't hear what he was saying. He did, however, see the knot of snakes that just fell out of the sky towards his boss. Gokudera blinked. Man, he was more injured than he thought. However, the snakes seemed to be real as they circled the Tenth, hissing.

"Tenth, look out!" Gokudera screamed as he, thinking fast, whipped some dynamite out of his person, lit them, and threw them at the pit of snakes advancing on his boss. The force of throwing them off-balanced his body a little, and the bomber surprisingly felt Hibari's grip tighten around his waist to steady him as he threw his tonfa at Mukuro.

They really were becoming quite the team. That worried Gokudera. A lot.

Hibari's tonfa distracted Mukuro, even though it didn't actually hit him, which was all that Gokudera needed to deal with the snakes. The bombs detonated; dark smoke coated the air as charred snake bodies flew across the room. The bomber felt a small blossom of pride even as more pain stabbed his chest. Coughing, he sagged a little; the only thing that kept him upright was Hibari's tight grip around his waist.

"Sorry we're late," Gokudera croaked at his boss when the smoke cleared. He heard Hibari scoff in his ear, but he decided to ignore that, too.

"Gokudera! Hibari!" The Tenth cried out in shock as he sat on his butt, mouth wide open. Gokudera sympathized – he knew it was a weird sight to see him and Hibari supporting each other. If he hadn't just used the skylark to get here, he never would've thought that the proud prefect would help him. It was a good thing the Tenth hadn't seen the bomber piggybacking on Hibari.

Suddenly, Hibari let go of Gokudera and stepped away from him. As the bomber began to fall, he heard the skylark say, "My debt's repaid, herbivore."

 _What an asshole_.

Gokudera fell to the ground with a hiss of pain and blacked out.

* * *

Gokudera woke up to the blinding white of a hospital room. For a moment, he could remember nothing. How the hell had he ended up here?

Then everything came flooding back at a speed that hurt his head. The more pieces he remembered, the more the bomber marveled on how he'd survived. After Hibari had dropped him, he'd become completely dead to the world. How had no one killed him while he'd been unconscious? Did the Tenth protect him?

He'd have to ask him someday.

It then occurred to him that he had no idea what the outcome of the battle had been. What if they _hadn't_ beaten Mukuro? What if he'd only been spared because they'd thought he was dead already?! What if everyone, the Tenth, the baseball idiot, Lancia, Hibari…. What if everyone was dead?! Gokudera didn't think he could handle that: he couldn't lose everyone important to him again.

He had to find out what had happened.

However, as he tried to sit up, pain flooded through his whole body. Unwillingly, Gokudera cried out. _Fuck_ , everything _hurt!_ He felt like the pain was even worse than when he'd suffered through sustaining the damn injuries in the first place! Was it because all of his adrenaline was gone, and there was nothing blocking his pain sensors? _Shit_ , how had he survived?

"I wouldn't try to move," a voice spoke up on the other side of the room. Gokudera didn't even have to look to identify it. "You're in bad shape, herbivore."

"Shut the hell up – you can't be much better," Gokudera spat icily. He was glad to know that at least his voice still worked. Though it was just his luck to have the same hospital room as fucking _Hibari_.

Even so, he was glad he didn't have to share a hospital room with his sister. Maybe people were finally starting to fucking realize that his sister's presence did more damage to his health than any of the wounds he'd suffered in the Mukuro battle. He was also glad he didn't have to room with the baseball idiot – he'd _never_ get any peace if that happened. Hell, he would probably blow the idiot sky high before either of them had fully healed. Hibari was fine, though. He could tolerate Hibari.

… Wait. Since when the hell could he tolerate Hibari?!

"Your herbivore pack came to visit you when you were unconscious."

Gokudera snapped out of his thoughts at the prefect's words, and he glanced at Hibari sharply. 'Your herbivore pack'… That could be no one but the Tenth and the baseball idiot! Already forgetting the skylark's advice from before, the bomber struggled to sit up. "So they're alive?! We won?!"

"Of course we won." Hibari sounded indignant, and Gokudera couldn't help but wonder if the other had lasted through the whole battle. He snickered snidely.

"So when did you pass out?"

Hibari glared heatedly at him before pulling out his tonfa. "I'm going to bite you to death."

"I'd like to see you try!" Wondering where all of his sudden confidence was coming from, Gokudera stuck his tongue out at Hibari. "Don't reopen your stomach wound!"

Growling, the skylark made to jump out of bed. However, he obviously hadn't healed all the way and an almost mistakable grunt of pain escaped him. He then seemed to give up and leaned back on his hospital bed with a grimace.

Gokudera laughed as he picked up his phone and snapped a photo of the pained skylark. "Just wait until this is on Instagram. I'll photoshop some cherry blossoms in the background."

"I'm going to kill you."

Chuckling, Gokudera sat back in his hospital bed as he surfed the web for a good picture of cherry blossoms he could use. He didn't plan on actually posting the photo on Instagram, for he knew that would really get him killed, but that didn't mean he couldn't have it for his own personal amusement. If, by the time they got out of the hospital, Hibari returned back to his old habits, Gokudera wanted at least one thing to remind him of the fact that he and the skylark had actually gotten along at one point.

Who would've thought.

"Boss," a sudden voice called out as the door to their hospital room slid open. Gokudera glanced over his phone screen to see Kusakabe, Hibari's second in command, standing in the doorway. "Can I come in, sir?"

"Fine." Hibari sounded annoyed, and Gokudera snorted. What a stubborn ass.

"Come on in, Kusakabe," the bomber stated confidently as the Elvis impersonator hesitated in the doorway. "Hibari has a hard time appreciating the things he has."

Gokudera could feel the skylark's glare on him, but at that point he had already returned to his phone. He knew he was being a cocky bastard, and sticking his nose into things that were none of his business, but for some reason he felt like he could do that with Hibari. At some point during the course of their struggle, the bomber had felt a connection between him and the prefect that he couldn't really put into words.

They had both lowered their borders around each other, even if just for a little while, and Gokudera knew from experience that neither of them could go back from that. Gokudera suddenly knew Hibari better than anyone, and the skylark him.

The thought frightened him.

"What is it, Kusakabe? Don't stay longer than you have to," Hibari snapped, his biting tone reaching Gokudera despite his efforts to ignore the conversation.

"Yes, boss." Kusakabe, unphased by the prefect's scathing tone, moved to a stool near his bed. "I just wanted to report to you that the students that were beaten up by the Kokuyo gang are returning to school – none of their injuries were too serious. And also to request permission to take temporary command of the disciplinary committee while you're recovering."

"There's no need." Gokudera thought he sensed a shift in the mood, causing him to glance up at Hibari. The skylark was grimacing as he struggled to sit up in his hospital bed. "I can return to school immediately."

"Boss, I don't think that's a good idea…" Kusakabe stated gently. "The committee needs you to be at full strength."

Gokudera admired the way Kusakabe dealt with his troublesome boss – he had a knack for making Hibari's recovery seem like a necessity for the survival of the committee instead of a weakness on the skylark's part. That was, really, quite a clever way of dealing with Hibari.

And, to his impressed amazement, it worked. Hibari sat back in his bed with a sigh, his eyes closed in cold resignation. "Fine. I grant you permission."

"Thanks, boss." Kusakabe looked relieved. "I'll make sure everything is in top condition for your return."

"You better."

Kusakabe rose, bowed, and turned to exit the room. Glancing over at Hibari, and seeing that he still had his eyes closed, Gokudera silently beckoned the disciplinary committee member to his side. Kusakabe gave him a strange look, but came over as he was asked. When he was close, the bomber tilted his phone screen to show him the picture he'd taken of Hibari, complete with cherry blossoms in the background. Though he covered his mouth with a hand, Kusakabe was unable to hold back his snort of laughter.

"Herbivore." Hibari's voice caused Gokudera to hurriedly put his phone away as Kusakabe snapped to attention. They both looked innocently over at the prefect, whose eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

"The hell do you want?" Gokudera replied indignantly as Kusakabe quickly excused himself and fled the room.

Hibari watched him go before he just huffed and returned to his resting position. Once his eyes were closed, Gokudera quietly pulled out his phone again and looked at the picture. Barely concealing his amused snickers, the bomber set the picture as his background.


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N) I suck, I'm so sorry for taking forever to update you guys ;; I promised once a week, and it's been like a month? Three weeks? Something definitely not what I promised? Well anyway. I hope you enjoy it, despite having to wait forever! And, as an apology, I'll upload the next chapter today as well ;D**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it! I'm glad to see there's still some 1859 fans out there despite the dying down of the khr fandom! XD**

Gokudera was twenty-one before he had to think about Hibari again. After he'd been discharged from the hospital, the bomber had tried to forget every encounter he'd had with the skylark. He'd even deleted the picture on his phone. In the week it had taken the two of them to recover, they had done nothing but argue: over which shows to watch on the hospital room's TV, over who had needed more help in the battle with Mukuro, over who had the worst injuries, over who was the strongest, over who would win in Brawl (though the bomber didn't remember why that one had come up), over food, and so much more. Sometimes it'd gotten to the point that nurses had to come in to force them back into bed and treat any wounds that had reopened.

Despite the tense atmosphere, however, Gokudera had enjoyed his time with Hibari. And that's why he wanted to forget it. He had lowered his barriers for the skylark, as the prefect had done for him, and the last thing he needed was to find some weird friendship with the blood-thirsty teen. He was sure Hibari felt the same way, which is why they'd fought.

They'd wanted to destroy any connection that had formed between them.

And yet, no matter how the bomber distracted himself by focusing on the Tenth's needs, he could feel Hibari's presence lingering in the back of his mind like a moth flitting around a light. Whether it was occasional eye contact in the halls, or in later years having to fetch Hibari's report for the Tenth because the cloud guardian liked to hole up in his room, there was always something to remind Gokudera just as he was about to forget.

It was annoying as fuck, and he hated it.

It was even worse when, a couple of years after Tsuna officially stepped in as the Tenth Vongola boss, Gokudera received his first solo mission.

"Hibari's what?"

Gokudera, twenty-one and finally filled out in his form, fidgeted in front of Tsuna's desk, not really believing what his boss was telling him. He was tired from pulling extra hours signing paperwork, as Tsuna's right-hand man, and he knew his brain was fried enough to make up the scenario he was now facing. It was easier to believe than that it was real.

Tsuna sighed as he leaned forward onto his desk, rubbing his temples. "Hibari's missing. He was sent to infiltrate the Genovese Family's main headquarters to see if he could get any more information about Sicily's murder cases, but we haven't heard from him in four days. He always keeps in regular contact, and this job was supposed to be easy enough for him that we didn't need to send anyone else."

"Are you sure he just doesn't want to contact you and risk revealing his position?" Gokudera asked, politely refusing his boss' gesture for him to sit. He was too antsy to sit; plus he'd been sitting in his chair all day and his back was sore.

"I don't know, I just feel like something's wrong," Tsuna sighed before he sat back in his chair and gave his oldest friend a look. "Will you go? Just to make sure?"

In his younger years, Gokudera would have jumped on Tsuna's request and would've run to pack before his boss could even finish a sentence. Now, however, he just felt weary: he really didn't want to go get Hibari. Just the thought of having to face him again, with the mutual knowledge of the weakness they had showed in front of each other and no one else, set him on edge. He wasn't even on the damn mission yet.

"Why me?"

"You're the closest to him."

Gokudera tried not to groan. He couldn't count how many times that card had been used on him. Just because _once_ he and Hibari had helped each other out didn't mean they were suddenly best friends. In fact, the bomber was pretty sure the cloud guardian hated him more now than he ever did before; before he could just coldly ignore him, but now he was forced to notice him and that probably drove a stick up his ass. And honestly Gokudera felt the same way.

He opened his mouth to refuse, but Tsuna was looking at him with that expression and Gokudera knew he couldn't. _Shit_.

"When do you want me to leave?"

A small smile rose on Tsuna's lips. "As soon as possible."

And that was how Gokudera found himself begrudgingly in Sicily, his birth town, wondering how the hell he was going to sneak into the base without getting himself caught or ruining Hibari's efforts if the cloud guardian really was undercover still.

With his mind fuzzy from jetlag and a crick in his back, Gokudera checked into the hotel that Tsuna had arranged for him. The room was nice, but not too nice, as checking into a fancy room would be too suspicious, and Gokudera figured he would live. He stepped out of his shoes at the doorway as he loosened his tie and threw it on the bed. Falling onto the bed after it, the storm guardian let Uri out of her box and then, fully clothed, started to fall asleep.

The cat, however, had different plans.

She jumped onto his chest, startling him from his doze, and meowed obnoxiously in his face. _Shouldn't we be working on rescuing Hibari?_

 _Unlike_ you, _I wasn't able to sleep on the plane,_ Gokudera sneered at his cat before he laid his head back down, trying to ignore her. _I'm tired, Uri; Hibari can fucking wait._

Gokudera felt exasperation trickle across the bond he shared with the she-cat, though she didn't say or do anything more besides curl into a ball and fall into a light doze herself. Gokudera rolled his eyes before deciding that it was probably a good thing. He closed his eyes, though he was still awake despite the exhaustion seeping through his veins.

Fucking insomnia.

The storm guardian opened his eyes again, already giving up on sleeping, and watched Uri sleep. Mindlessly, he started gently stroking her spine with his finger.

Gokudera had been the last Vongola guardian to bond with his box animal. Even the fucking creep Mukuro had bonded with his snowy owl before Uri had even given the storm guardian a second glance.

Though Gokudera knew it was because he and Uri despised each other, it still pissed him off. In fact, that probably made their relationship worse; he hated that he had tried so hard to be friendly to the damn cat and she had just clawed at his efforts. He couldn't count how many cuts and scars he had on his face from her damn claws and how much money he'd spent on disinfectant. The damn stuff was expensive.

The fact that they bonded at all was a miracle. It even happened by accident, really.

It had been one of those all-out crazy family battles, where everyone was thrown into the throng and fighting everyone around them for their lives. Gokudera had killed so many people that day that he couldn't even remember their faces; it was hard to tell if the blood on his body was his or not. He wasn't aware of anything outside of himself and Uri (in leopard form) and the blurry forms of enemies around him.

Perhaps it was because of those conditions, where it was literally impossible to think about anything but defense, that allowed them to bond the way they did.

Someone had snuck up on Uri while her back was turned fighting someone else and Gokudera had barely noticed before he was pushing her out of the way with a scream of her name. The sword that had been aiming for Uri's heart stabbed into Gokudera's arm, and his scream of pain and anger molded with the leopard's yowls.

It was in that instant that they bonded.

The bond was extremely disorienting, and looking back Gokudera marveled at how either of them had kept fighting the stream of enemies when they'd first bonded. Uri's mind melded with his and he could hear all of her thoughts, feel all of her pain and emotions, and it was such a whirlwind of activity that he almost fell over. The thing that stuck with him, in the intensity of the moment, was her overbearing concern for him. He'd thought all along that she hated him and wanted nothing to do with him, but as her pure emotions washed over him he realized that she did care what happened to him. She actually enjoyed their quarrels, as she found it riveting competition. And, perhaps the most important thing to him even in the present, she wouldn't want to be any other human's box animal.

Her strong emotion was almost too much for Gokudera; he could feel tears well up in his eyes even as he killed the man that had helped them bond. He now understood.

They had never been able to bond before because he had misunderstood her so completely.

 _Uri._ Her name resonated in his mind and he could almost feel her purr as her mind touched his.

The storm cat was his closest companion from then on out. He talked to her almost constantly, as he now kept her out of her box for as long as he could since he learned how much she hated confinement. They would talk mentally for the most part, to strengthen their bond and get used to the fact that they could understand everything about each other.

It was still disorienting, however. Sometimes Gokudera would be working on paperwork when he'd get a really strong desire for mackerel, and it would take him a while for him to realize that it was actually Uri's desires floating across their bond. And, when Gokudera would sink into the fits of depression that had haunted him from when he was young, he would be surprised to feel Uri rubbing up against his leg and comforting him with her presence.

The cat really was the best friend he could have. She could understand him without forcing him to put his feelings into words, which was something Gokudera had always wished for. And even though he realized that it was kind of sad that his best friend was a cat, it didn't matter too much to him. Uri's sparky personality was better than most humans he had to deal with put together. And besides, if he was in a good enough mood to admit it, Yamamoto was the second closest runner in the best friend category (the baseball idiot had somehow, annoyingly, gotten on his good side).

Looking at the cat now, it was really hard for Gokudera to remember when they'd hated each other. She meant the world to him now.

Smiling a little, Gokudera finally drifted off to sleep, his dreams filled with cats and mackerel.

* * *

The next morning Gokudera was up before the dawn, jetlag being horrible as usual. Uri was still sleeping, apparently unaffected by the time difference, a fact that Gokudera couldn't help but envy.

But it wasn't like he slept well anyway, so the tiredness didn't bother him too much.

Leaving the sleeping bundle of fur on the bed, Gokudera crawled into the kitchen to prepare himself some coffee. Even if he was used to being tired, that didn't change the fact that he was not a morning person and never would be.

When the coffee was ready, and Gokudera was starting to feel more like a person than a zombie, the storm guardian grabbed his laptop and opened the e-mail from Tsuna that laid out his mission details.

The Tenth Vongola boss had forwarded him the same mission he'd sent to Hibari with a few extra notes for Gokudera's benefit. The cloud guardian had been assigned to work undercover for the Genovese Family, a family notorious for being quite brutal in their mafia dealings, to gather information on the current civilian murder cases that were terrifying Sicilian citizens. They were suspected to be the cause of the murders because of their signature killing style: the blood eagle, supposedly adopted from ancient Viking torture practices. The victim's back was cut open, their murderers pulling their ribs out in such a way that they stuck out their back like wings. Leaving those types of bodies out in the streets everywhere was obviously a threat; but for what purpose, no one was really sure.

That was what Tsuna wanted to figure out, as well as devising a plan to stop them. Hibari was supposed to have slowly worked himself up the ladder until he could get to the position where he'd be trusted enough to learn some information, but something must've gone wrong somehow. Gokudera was honestly surprised; despite how head-on Hibari's fighting style was, the cloud guardian was actually quite good at espionage. He'd never been caught before and had always managed to come back with a great deal of information.

He must've underestimated the Genovese.

Gokudera sighed, rubbing his face with a hand. If even Hibari had trouble with them, how the hell was the storm guardian supposed to go in there single-handedly, not even undercover, to rescue him? The whole idea seemed impossible.

But then again, they'd thought beating Byakuran would be impossible, too.

Sitting forward in his chair, Gokudera clicked on the layout of the Genovese's base that Tsuna had sent and studied it. He'd need to know it by heart, but he was also looking for something else: bases with such high security always had a loophole.

He'd just about found it by the time Uri jumped up onto the table and sat down where she could see the screen as well. Gokudera felt a smug satisfaction at noting that she didn't try to sit on his keyboard; the last time she'd done that had ended very badly for her, and she obviously remembered.

 _Have you found anything?_

 _Just about._ Gokudera stretched in his chair before he pointed at a small room with what appeared to be a giant generator inside. _See that? That's the generator that powers the entire security system._

 _So take down that and we would be able to move around fairly freely,_ Uri meowed thoughtfully.

Gokudera nodded. _Right, but they're going to expect enemies to aim for there so that will also be the area most heavily guarded._

Uri hissed. _Then how are we supposed to take it down?_

 _We won't. At least not at first._ Gokudera moved his finger to a different room on the other side of the base. _This is where all of the cameras feed to; the control room. There's a bunch of people stationed there, but all of them are working watching the screens. They won't have any protection because why would anyone break into a room when they know a bunch of people will be there?_

 _So you plan to break in there,_ Uri hummed, finally catching on.

Gokudera smirked. _Right. They'll be unprepared, so it will be easy to take them out. Once we do that, we can alarm the guards at the generator that someone has broken in elsewhere; then, while they're busy responding to that, you can easily walk in and shut down the generator._

Gokudera immediately felt Uri's unease. _You mean we won't be together for this whole part?_

 _We'll meet up again after you've shut down the generator._ Gokudera looked his storm cat in the eyes. _It's the only way this is going to work, Uri. We'd waste too much time otherwise._

Uri flicked her tail as she looked thoughtfully at the screen. After a long silence, she sighed. _You're right, of course, but I don't like it. How are we going to find Hibari after all of that?_

 _You know what he smells like, right? We'll track him down that way; hopefully we'll find him before the Genovese catch on and sound the alarm._

 _Hopefully,_ Uri repeated drily, obviously not satisfied with that part of the plan either.

 _And if we need to, we'll fight our way out,_ Gokudera thought unconvincingly, a bit of anxiety clutching his stomach. There was no way they would be able to fight all of those people and get out, which is why the plan needed to work; if not they were dead. He knew it was risky, but there was no other way.

Gokudera felt Uri's doubt touch his mind as she stood up and stretched. For a moment, he thought she would back out before she rubbed against his hand. _We'll just have to make sure it doesn't come to that. When do we leave?_

 _Tonight; I need to prepare a couple of things._ Grinning, Gokudera scratched behind Uri's ears. He was glad she was on his side.

* * *

When it was dark enough that the only way to see was from the small light cast by the flames in Uri's ears, the two set out. Gokudera was wearing all black with a black beanie covering most of his hair and he walked at a brisk pace, Uri on his shoulder. He knew they looked suspicious, but he'd rather be pulled over by a police officer than shot by the Genovese.

He'd called Tsuna and Yamamoto right before he'd headed out: Tsuna to report that he was taking his move, Yamamoto to ask him something as a precaution.

"Yamamoto, if I don't come back," Gokudera had murmured, keeping his voice low so as to not alert the sleeping cat on the bed, "Will you take care of Uri?"

"Why do you think you won't come back?" Yamamoto had immediately grilled him, his voice pinched a bit high in worry.

"Just answer the damn question," Gokudera had barked, but the words didn't contain their usual venom.

Yamamoto was silent for a long time before he finally answered. "Of course I'll take care of her. You didn't even have to ask."

Gokudera felt his shoulders relax. "I just had to make sure."

"Promise me I won't have to," Yamamoto suddenly demanded. "Promise me you'll come back."

"Yamamoto…"

"Gokudera."

Sneering, Gokudera gave in. Half-heartedly, he said, "I promise."

"Thanks, Gokudera." Yamamoto sighed in relief on the other end. The storm guardian didn't have the heart to tell him that he wasn't good at keeping promises.

Pushing his conversation with Yamamoto out of his mind, lest Uri pick up on it, Gokudera pulled his hat over his ears and picked up the pace. He wanted to reach the Genovese base before midnight.

By the time they finally reached the base, the night had gotten even darker and the temperature had dropped about twenty degrees. Gokudera tried not to shiver as he dug into his pocket and pulled out a pair of ear muffs. He reached up to put them around Uri's ears, their only light quickly disappearing.

Gokudera waited for his eyes to adjust as Uri squirmed uncomfortably on his shoulder. _What was that for?_

 _I don't want them to see you because of your ears,_ Gokudera pointed out, feeling it was rather reasonable. Uri just huffed as she leaped off his shoulders.

Gokudera kneeled down and, before he could stop himself by being embarrassed, snatched Uri into a hug. He felt her purring against his chest. _You remember where to go, right?_

 _Even if I don't you'll be able to direct me._

Gokudera smirked before he let her go and stood up. _Remember to wait for my signal._

 _Yeah, yeah I know, just go already,_ Uri purred affectionately as she stared up at the storm guardian. _Be careful, Hayato._

 _You too, Uri._

And with that they went their separate ways. Gokudera felt severely less confident without Uri on his shoulder, but he forced the feelings away and focused on his task. He could defeat ten or twenty defenseless guys without the storm cat's help.

Sneaking into the control room was easier than he'd thought. He obviously couldn't just walk in the front door, so he'd scaled the wall to reach the second floor where his goal was. That part would've been hard if he didn't have his Storm Disc (it may not be able to fly, but it hovers pretty high), but he did so reaching the window was easy. The Genovese also were apparently not used to people being able to fly up to their window, so it was easy to break into and no alarm set off at Gokudera's intrusion.

Gokudera landed lightly in the hallway and paused to listen. Nothing. No one had noticed him yet.

Keeping an eye out for security cameras, the storm guardian crept through the hallway. The Genovese must really not prepare for people who can bypass the first floor, as there seemed to be no sense of security outside of swiveling cameras that were easy to avoid for someone as observant as Gokudera.

The bastards really were too cocky. How had Hibari failed his mission?

It only took a couple of minutes for Gokudera to reach the control room. Taking a deep breath, Gokudera lit his storm ring and pushed it in a couple of boxes. The storm guardian felt the familiar contacts settle into his eyes as he brought out various pieces of the Sistema C.A.I.; his Flame Arrow settled on his left arm as two Bone Loops flew out to surround him protectively.

Gokudera took a deep breath. He was ready. All he had to do was open the door—

Unexpectedly, someone from inside the room swung the door open, slamming into Gokudera's face as he fell to the floor. Scrambling quickly to his feet, Gokudera pointed his Flame Arrow at the guy in the doorway.

He was tall and bald, with black sunglasses covering his face. He was wearing a suit, an expensive looking one at that, and he was smirking confidently as he pointed a gun at the storm guardian. "Did you really think we weren't expecting you—?"

Gokudera didn't let the guy finish as he lit his sun ring and fired several consecutive bullets at a breathtaking speed at the guy. He was dead before he even realized he'd been shot at.

Leaping over his body, the storm guardian fully burst into the room. All the people inside leaped up from their chairs, obviously surprised that Gokudera had gotten past the first guy so fast, and scrambled for their weapons. There were more than Gokudera had anticipated, but not so many that he couldn't deal with it.

He had killed half of them with his fast sun and storm bullets before they'd even managed to grab their weapons.

The other half gave him a little trouble, but he was able to escape with mostly bruises; however, someone had snuck up on him at the last second and had slammed a hammer into his chest, the wound only magnified because of the lightning flames that surrounded it. Gokudera managed to kill the guy before he could aim for his head, but his ribs ached like hell and he was worried he may have broken a few.

And, as if to make matters worse, the last guy managed to sound the alarm before Gokudera could kill him.

 _Shit!_ Gokudera swore internally, forgetting that Uri could hear him, as he pushed the now dead man out of the way to glance quickly at the controls.

He felt her concern immediately. _Hayato?!_

Gokudera only spared a second to open his mind to her, to let her know he was okay, before he began pressing buttons. If he could figure out how to signal the guys in front of the generator, he could still mislead them since the alarm would cause panic and they'd be looking for clear direction. He could work with this.

Eventually, he was able to open a channel on the main intercom. Though he'd only wanted to move the generator guys, it wouldn't hurt to have all of the guardians misled. Gokudera cleared his throat and tried to calm himself as he spoke into the mike, "Intruder alert. Intruder alert. All units report to the left wing. Repeat, all units report to the left wing."

Cutting off the channel, Gokudera quickly glanced up at the monitors in front of him. To his satisfaction, he saw a huge group of people start heading towards the left wing. However, he paled a little as he saw the sheer amount of them; if all of those people really did corner him and Uri…

Shaking his head, the storm guardian pushed the thoughts away from his head. He couldn't afford to be distracted now.

As soon as he saw the generator guys leave, he signaled for Uri to get a move on. He watched on the monitor for a second to see the storm cat leap down from an air vent, just as Gokudera had told her to. She hurried into the generator room and, within seconds, all of the screens went black.

Gokudera released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Part one success. Well, mostly success. It would've been nice to avoid the alarm going off.

 _Uri, I'm going to meet you in the generator room,_ Gokudera thought to his cat as he ran out of the control room. _Don't move unless you have to._

Gokudera felt rather than heard her acknowledgement before he was racing down the hallways, the layout of the base prominent in his mind. Because he'd taken the time to memorize the map, it only took him a couple of minutes to reach the generator room. He didn't run into anyone.

When he got there, he saw Uri prowling the hallway, her nose to the ground as she no doubt strained her senses to pick up Hibari's scent. Gokudera slowed to a stop right in front of her and leaned on his knees, panting as he tried to catch his breath.

He'd never been much of a runner.

 _Getting anything?_

Gokudera felt Uri's frustration across their bond and didn't even need to wait for her reply. _All you damn humans leave such a stink. I can't pick out anything in this mess._

 _Would your leopard senses help?_ Gokudera asked, thinking quickly. They couldn't afford to linger in the hallway more than necessary. They had limited time to find Hibari as it was.

Uri stopped what she was doing and strutted towards him, her tail lashing back and forth in agitation. _Do you even have to ask?_

Gokudera just scoffed at her, knowing she was only snapping because she was frustrated and stressed. He kneeled down and lit his sun flames, holding out his finger to his cat as she reached him. Immediately she began to lap at the flames, her tongue moving quickly as she swallowed the energy.

A bright light soon engulfed her, and the storm guardian had to look away for a moment, blinded. When the light faded, he looked back to see Uri in all of her leopard glory. She was now twice as tall as he was kneeling down and just as long as he would be if was lying down. Her usually white and yellow fur was now completely yellow with dark brown leopard spots coating her entire body from the toes on her paws to the tip of her tail. The ear muffs Gokudera had given her earlier had fallen off, exposing the strong storm flames that burned in her ears. She had red Primo plates on her shoulders that also burned strongly with storm flames.

Uri looked at him briefly before she stuck her nose to the ground again. _Don't just stand there gawking; let's get to work._

Momentarily surprised by how much deeper Uri's thoughts were when she was in leopard form, Gokudera hesitated before he shook his head and got up to keep watch. No one had entered the hallway yet, but the storm guardian didn't want anything to distract his leopard as she searched for Hibari's scent.

After a few painstakingly long minutes, Uri released a small yowl in triumph. _I've got it! It's faint, but it's there!_

Gokudera felt a small flash of triumph before his urgency overtook it. _What the hell are you waiting for then?! Lead the way!_

 _Oh shut up, it's not like you're doing anything useful,_ Uri snapped back, but both she and Gokudera knew the whole thing was just in jest.

Without another word, Uri ran off down the hallway in the opposite direction that Gokudera had come from. Her powerful leopard legs carried her forward in fast, long strides to the point that the storm guardian could barely keep up with her.

 _Uri… Slow down a little!_

For the second time that trip, Gokudera felt exasperation trickle across their bond, but Uri did slow her pace a little so that the storm guardian could run by her side if he tried hard enough. Gokudera felt a little bit of irritation at that; that damn cat _knew_ he wasn't a good runner.

Though he supposed the urgency of the situation called for it.

They rounded a corner; Uri had just informed him that they were getting close when they ran headlong into a group of Genovese grunts. Gokudera swore as he infused his bullets with cloud flames and shot at the group ahead. Due to the propagation factor of the cloud flames, the storm bullet split into multiple branches, different bullets hitting the group all at once. Gokudera wasn't sure how many he'd actually hit, he couldn't tell from the screams, but he didn't stop to think about it as he took some small dynamite from his pocket and lit them using the flame on Uri's shoulder. He threw them into the air, creating a smokescreen when the bombs detonated.

Uri and Gokudera snuck past the remaining grunts as they were distracted and continued on Hibari's scent trail.

 _You know, it would've helped a lot if you hadn't used smoke,_ Uri complained drily, as she was now having trouble picking up Hibari's scent due to the smoke coating the air from the smokescreen.

Gokudera grit his teeth. _We didn't fucking have time to take them all out, Uri. Stop acting like you can't smell anything._

Uri growled but she didn't respond and just kept running down the corridor. They turned another corner and Gokudera stopped abruptly, panting as he stared in growing dismay at what lay ahead.

Where there had presumably been another hallway was now a giant pile of rubble. It was as tall as where the ceiling would be if there still had been a ceiling and the pieces of tile that lay there were huge and unsteady. Just standing there watching some of the pieces were swaying precariously.

It was definitely a hazardous area, and Gokudera couldn't see any way to get past it.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me…" Gokudera muttered, not realizing that he'd spoken aloud.

 _I can smell him_. Uri's tail flicked under Gokudera's nose to get his attention as she padded over to where part of the ceiling had collapsed, a pile of rubble the only thing suggesting anything had been there at all. As the storm guardian followed after his leopard, he noticed scorch marks all around the cracks in the walls where the building had caved in, and suddenly he understood.

The ceiling had been blasted down. Hibari must've been caught in some kind of ambush that even he couldn't get himself out of. Gokudera knew from personal experience that bomb tricks worked better in closed corridors, like the one he was in currently. In fact, it was the same kind of thing he'd done to fight Chikusa all of those years ago.

With a strong sense of déjà vu, the storm guardian stared down at the rubble as he joined Uri. The she-leopard was poking at some rocks with her nose, repeatedly looking back at Gokudera as she did so. _He's under here._

Gokudera sighed deeply. Of course he was. Where the fuck else would he be?

Trying to ignore the exhaustion creeping through his bones, the bomber leaned down and started digging ceiling tile out of the way. Uri was at his side, scrapping away at anything that would break with her claws. Though this method would take forever, the storm guardian didn't see any other option; he couldn't risk blowing up the rocks in case he accidentally blew up Hibari, too. Though honestly he didn't even know if the other was still alive. How long had he been buried?

 _Can you tell if he's still alive?_ Gokudera asked his cat when his wounds forced him to take a short break from digging. He was frustrated with their lack of progress and was scrambling his brain for something, some strategy that could make it go faster. After all, he didn't know how long he had until the Genovese guardians found him again.

 _He doesn't smell dead_ , came Uri's mental reply as she continued to dig. _Though I suppose he could've just died._

"Gee, thanks a lot," Gokudera grumbled aloud before he resumed helping her.

After what seemed like hours, with Gokudera's arms and lower back trembling with effort and blood running down his rubbed raw fingers, they unearthed a hand. Breath catching in his throat, Gokudera scanned the hand, trying to notice something, _anything_ , that would identify it as Hibari's.

And then, he saw it: the glinting ring on the hand's middle finger.

 _It's him!_ Gokudera exclaimed to Uri, who yowled in delight.

Scanning the rubble that lay on top of the hand, Gokudera realized that potentially all he had to do was move a giant piece of the ceiling off and he would uncover Hibari. However, the job seemed like an impossible task: he was in no condition to lift giant pieces of tile. Already he could feel his ribs aching from where they'd been smashed and he realized with slight panic that his arms were still shaking and bleeding from his previous digging.

 _Uri, do you think you can help me lift this tile?_ Gokudera watched as the she-leopard inspected the tile, her tail tip twitching back and forth in thought,

Eventually she turned back to him. _I'll need more sun flames, but yes, I believe so._

Gokudera scoffed in feigned annoyance, even as he felt relief rush through him. If all it took was some sun flames, he was more than happy to do it. He lit the flames on his fourth finger and teased Uri as she came over to lap at it hungrily. _Greedy cat._

 _Selfish human,_ Uri retorted before her body seemed to glow with energy.

When she was fully charged, Gokudera took a deep breath and turned back to the tile. Keeping his sun flames lit to heal his wounds as he went, and slowly pumping rain flames into his body to numb the pain, the storm guardian hooked his fingers around the stone and pulled with a heavy grunt. When he'd gotten the tile up a few inches, his body trembling with effort, Uri pushed her shoulders underneath the tile and lifted it higher. When it was high enough that a human could crawl out, Gokudera squinted into the darkness. He hoped to god that the tile he and Uri were struggling to hold would be the only thing covering Hibari.

To his relief, he saw an exposed figure lying face down in the dirt that was unmistakably Hibari. Gokudera didn't know how the hell he'd done it, but he'd snuck past nearly the entire Genovese family single-handedly to complete his mission, had destroyed their security system, and found their cloud guardian. Though he supposed it would put a damper on things if Hibari was dead.

Before he could fully think over what he would do if the skylark _was_ dead, Hibari raised his head. His cobalt eyes glinted in the darkness and Gokudera couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine at the other's absolutely predatory gaze. He looked about as appreciative for the help as he had been seven years ago in the fight with Mukuro.

But ah well. Gokudera had completed his mission, and Hibari could go eat shit for all he cared.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Gokudera panted, sending a teasing smirk towards the skylark he'd just unearthed.

"You should feel privileged," a croaky voice snapped back. Hibari held his gaze as he gingerly picked himself up and climbed out from under the rubble, stumbling a little. Gokudera barely caught the cloud guardian as he and Uri dropped the tile behind him before they were leaning on each other, panting heavily. Gokudera could taste blood in his mouth from his heavy excursions, despite the sun flames trickling through his body; even so, he felt himself relaxing a little into Hibari's warmth. It was comforting to know that he and Uri weren't alone anymore and that he had someone to lean on, since he knew he wouldn't be standing if it wasn't for his hands on Hibari's forceps and his body pressed against the other's. Hibari too seemed to be in bad shape, as his arms were trembling around Gokudera's waist and he didn't seem to have the energy to lift his head from where it had fallen onto the bomber's shoulder. The storm guardian tried to look him over, to gauge how badly he was injured, but could see nothing that gave him any indication outside of Hibari's haggard wheezes in his ear and the dirt and grim covering his body.

When the skylark spoke again, his voice sent a quiver down Gokudera's spine. "You're the only one who is allowed to see me like this."

"So I'm supposed to enjoy seeing you shiver like a weak sewage rat?" Gokudera snorted.

"Shut up," Hibari hissed, his grip tightening around Gokudera's waist. "You're the only herbivore here."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just try to get out of here alive, okay?" Gokudera risked taking a tiny step backwards, squeezing Hibari's arms as he dragged the skylark with him. Hibari eventually seemed to find his feet, and he wrapped his arm around Gokudera's shoulders as the bomber supported him with an arm around his waist. With the opposite of the position they had first adopted seven years ago in the fight against Mukuro, the two Vongola guardians slowly picked their way out of the destroyed base, Uri at their side supporting them when they both stumbled.

While they limped along, Gokudera distracted himself from the pain by marveling at how close he'd gotten to Hibari despite the fact that they had literally pretended the other hadn't existed for the last seven years. If he had called the skylark a weak sewage rat when they were still in middle school, he would've been bitten to death. Now all he got was a lame comeback from the strongest man on Earth. If that wasn't progress, he didn't know what was.

He wondered if he really was the only person that Hibari showed that side of him to, and then wondered why that thought made him kind of happy. Bah, the pain blurring his vision must be preventing him from thinking clearly.

It's not like he cared what an asshole like Hibari thought of him. He didn't want anything to do with him.

"Did Sawada send you?" Hibari panted as they limped down a long corridor.

 _No, I did,_ Uri growled sarcastically to Gokudera. The storm guardian tried to conceal his amused smirk.

"He sure did," Gokudera replied instead, "Somehow he knew you were getting your ass whooped."

If Hibari had a retort to that outside of his eyes narrowing to deadly slits, Gokudera would never know because, in that moment, three Genovese members dashed into their path. Cursing, Gokudera made sure Hibari was steady against him before he removed his arm from the skylark's waist to aim his Flame Arrow at the guy closest to him. He shot him down with a heavy storm flame before the other two could react.

Taking advantage of the pause, Gokudera reoriented his Bone Loops so that one was protecting him and the other was protecting Hibari. The precaution was well timed because, in that moment, Hibari somehow found the energy to spring forward and bash one of the other guys' heads in with his tonfa. The only thing that saved him from getting speared by the other guy, since his injuries seemed to be slowing down his reaction time, was Gokudera's shield flying over to parry the man's blade. Before any human in the room still alive could react, Uri leaped forward and bit the last man's neck, bringing him down to join his dead comrades.

The brief skirmish had only taken a few seconds, but it had left Gokudera exhausted. Unearthing Hibari had really sapped his energy, and providing protection for the two of them, as well as supplying Uri's sun flames, was really starting to take its toll.

They had to get out of there, quick, or Gokudera may collapse and fail his mission after all.

By the time Hibari stumbled back to where the storm guardian was, Gokudera had caught his breath enough that he thought he could move forward. Reassuming their position, the two Vongola guardians once more picked their way through the building, Gokudera guiding them with his memory of the base's layout.

As they went, Hibari glared distastefully at the Bone Loop that Gokudera had placed next to him. "I don't need your protection."

"Fuck, just shut up already," Gokudera growled. He was busy trying to find his way out of the base, with no help from Hibari might he add, and he really didn't need to hear stubborn complaints about something that may end up saving the skylark's life.

"I'll bite you to death for this later, herbivore."

"Oh boy, more threats you never follow through with," Gokudera spat icily. He felt a grim satisfaction from the deathly glare he felt more than saw come from the other. That's what he got for being such an ass.

Hibari was silent for a moment before he retorted, "If we share a hospital room again, I will unplug your IV in the night."

The threat was so not threatening that Gokudera actually laughed. "If you do that, I will lose any respect I may have for you."

When the cloud guardian didn't reply, Gokudera looked over to gauge his reaction. What he saw astonished him: Hibari was _smiling._ It wasn't a big smile but, no matter how hard the bomber looked, he didn't see a trace of malice in it. The cloud guardian was genuinely smiling in amusement, and the realization was so shocking that Gokudera had to look away. Hibari _never_ smiled.

 _What the fuck was going on?!_

 _Are we sure this is Hibari?_ Gokudera asked Uri mentally, not wanting to key the skylark in on how freaked out he actually was.

 _Humans are not good at disguising their scent, Hayato. It's him alright._

 _I think him smiling is scarier than the idea of being bitten to death._

Uri let out a low growl of amusement, to which Hibari turned his head and glared at the two of them. "What?"

"Nothing," Gokudera snapped back, perhaps too quickly.

 _Tell him we were discussing how that cut on his chin makes him look like Yamamoto,_ Uri said slyly, her amusement reaching Gokudera through their bond. The idea of it combined with the image of how Hibari would react if he really did say that caused the storm guardian to laugh outright, his hand in front of his face doing nothing to mute his amused chuckles.

"What is that cat saying?" Hibari growled, his dark aura thickening a little bit.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Gokudera chuckled before it suddenly occurred to him that he was allowing himself to become _way_ too relaxed when they were still on enemy turf. He forced his laughter away and straightened up a little before he refocused his senses on the world around him. "Come on, I think we're almost out."

Hibari didn't say anything more, but Gokudera noticed that his dark aura didn't fade any. The storm guardian was probably pressing his luck with his next question, but he'd been wondering about it ever since he'd snuck into the base.

"What the hell happened to you anyway?"

As Gokudera probably could've guessed, Hibari just sent a glare his way and didn't answer. The storm guardian sighed and decided not to push it. If the cloud guardian didn't want to say, then hell he'd take it to his grave. Not only that, but he'd probably beat Gokudera up if he tried to pry and then neither of them would make it out of the base alive.

As it was, they somehow made it out of the building without running into anyone else.

"W-we made it!" Gokudera sighed in relief as he sagged against Hibari. All of the energy had left his limbs. Despite that, however, he forced himself to pull out his phone and shoot Tsuna a text, telling him he'd found Hibari and that they needed a jet to come pick them up.

Just as he'd put his phone back in his pocket, he felt Hibari tense against him. "Don't be so sure, herbivore."

Gokudera looked in the direction of his gaze and he felt the moment when his hopes plummeted to the ground and he realized that he was probably going to die.

A huge group of people was walking slowly towards them, heavily armed, their numbers doubled by the various box animals that they had with them. There had to be hundreds of them, as Gokudera couldn't see the end of the crowd, and he swallowed thickly. With just the three of them, four if Hibari decided to use Roll, and their weakened states…

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Gokudera heard a click as Hibari lit his ring and pushed it into one of his boxes; soon enough, his small hedgehog was resting comfortably on Gokudera's shoulder (he had meant to land on Hibari's, but Gokudera's was in the way). The storm guardian could tell that the cloud guardian and his box animal were locked in an intense mind conversation, so he contacted Uri as well.

 _Any ideas?_

He felt Uri brush up against his side. _None of them good ones._

Gokudera looked at Hibari out of the corner of his eye, surprised to see the cloud guardian looking back. The skylark nodded, once, before the two Vongola guardians raised their weapons in unison.

" _Then it's a fight to the death!"_ Gokudera screamed mentally and out loud as the four raced to meet the Genovese head on.

The storm guardian didn't remember much of what happened during the first part of the battle. He just remembered a blur of faces as he shot five different types of flames at anything in front of him or to the sides. He was back to back with the cloud guardian, though he didn't remember whose idea _that_ was, and Uri was at his side biting, scratching, and throwing storm flames at their enemies. Gokudera didn't dare turn to look behind him, trusting Hibari to cover for him, but occasionally out of the corner of his eye he could see one or several of Roll's multiples barreling into entire rows of Genovese and knocking them down like bowling pins. Almost no one had gotten far enough to leave a scratch on any of them.

For a blissful moment, it seemed like they could win.

However, it didn't last long. Gokudera had no idea how far they had progressed before he saw something coming at him out of the corner of his eye. As he swiveled to shoot at it, however, he suddenly felt an explosion in his chest coming from the direction he'd just been facing.

 _Hayato!_ Uri called, but she was too tied up to check on him.

Grunting in pain as he fell to a knee, Gokudera looked down at his chest to see a bullet wound oozing blood all over his shirt. _Fuck,_ who the hell was using guns in this kind of battle?! For a second, he could do nothing but stare at the wound: then he realized how stupid that was. He had to keep fighting, even if his breathing was haggard and he was losing blood at an alarming speed. He pumped sun flames even more into himself, hissing from the pain, as he prepared himself to try and stand again.

When he looked up, however, he was met with a strange sight. The enemies that he'd been facing were all gone, or at least blocked from his view. Instead all he saw were hundreds of little purple balls with silver spikes sticking out of them, forming an impenetrable wall that was nearly ten feet tall and ten feet wide. While he stared, the one closest to him rolled over and he was met with Roll's furry little hedgehog body. The animal squeaked at him, and Gokudera smiled a little through his pain as he ran a finger down Roll's belly.

"Thanks, Roll," he murmured softly before he turned around to see what was happening to Hibari.

What he saw was an even stranger sight than the Roll wall. Hibari was fighting side by side with Uri, the two of them impressively holding back the wave of enemies that seemed to never end. Gokudera even saw the cloud guardian communicating some orders to his storm leopard, who didn't even growl at him in defiance.

Gokudera blinked. Since when the hell had those two gotten along?

It was then that another bad spasm racked his body and he groaned as his wound pulsed more pain to his brain and seeped more blood onto his shirt. Shakily raising a hand to press to the wound, the storm guardian tried vainly to prevent the wound from losing too much more blood. However, he realized his moments of hesitation had cost him: his vision was starting to go blurry and the pain was unbearable, despite the presence of the sun flames.

Things were not going well for him.

"W-why are you protecting me?" Gokudera panted to Hibari after a while, blood oozing over his hand as he pressed it harder against his wound.

Hibari didn't answer at first, too focused on smashing the foes in front of him. As Gokudera watched him fight, he noticed that blood was starting to dribble down the cloud guardian's shirt from somewhere and that he was a lot more unsteady on his feet than he was probably hoping to portray. Gokudera swallowed as he turned back around and pulled out his phone to see if Tsuna had replied to his previous text. He hadn't, so the storm guardian sent another one, updating their current situation and expressing a plea to send backup with the jet.

A few minutes later and he still hadn't heard from his boss.

 _Goddammit_ , why wasn't Tsuna answering?! If they didn't come with backup soon…

Suddenly Hibari pushed up against Gokudera, his legs braced against the storm guardian's shoulders. Acting automatically, the bomber leaned back against Hibari's legs to help steady him. When he looked up, Hibari was looking back down at him. Gokudera couldn't read anything in his gaze.

"I'm returning the favor."

Gokudera blinked. He hadn't been expecting that. Though he supposed he already knew that Hibari was the kind of person who always returned a favor, even if he despised doing it. So he just scoffed, as if he knew all along that that would be the answer, before he discreetly leaned back and touched two fingers to Hibari's ankle, channeling sun flames into the cloud guardian.

"Fucking show-off."

Hibari growled at him, no doubt conscious of what Gokudera was trying to do, but the storm guardian noticed that he did not remove his ankle. Gokudera scoffed again. That bastard was trying so hard not to show how much he actually needed the sun flames.

However, Gokudera soon realized that deciding to provide sun flames for three people had been a terrible idea. Hibari was fighting recklessly, and Gokudera was really spreading himself thin with keeping both he and the cloud guardian alive as well as maintaining Uri's leopard form and healing her wounds. It was taking a huge toll on his body, and with his lack of energy due to his blood loss, Gokudera could feel the blackness pulling at the edges of his vision.

"H-Hibari…" Gokudera called out weakly before he was concerned to note that he didn't have the energy to say anything else. _Fuck…_

He felt Hibari brace against him before he stepped away from Gokudera's fingers. "Herbivore, you're not allowed to die here."

The return of a bit of his energy did nothing for Gokudera, except allow him to say a few more sentences. "And what about you, huh? Don't you dare fucking die on me."

Gokudera heard the sound of tonfa smashing bone. "No one can kill me."

 _What a stuck-up asshole…_ The storm guardian thought weakly before he started to succumb to the darkness. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought he heard Uri yowling at him to wake up.


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N) So all of those high ratings? That's for this chapter - prepare yourself.**

 **Also, I want to thank everyone that's favorited and reviewed this story; you guys are awesome, and thanks for being so patient with me and my poor updating schedule! ^-^"**

Gokudera woke up to the blinding white of a hospital room, and it was like he was fourteen all over again. For a moment, he could do nothing more than lay there and stare up at the ceiling. There was a dull ache in his ribs, but a piercing one in his chest, and it was those reminders that got him to turn his head and look around the room.

The sight to his immediate right brought queasiness to his stomach as his heart clenched painfully.

Uri was lying on her side in an incubation tank, back in house cat form, her flanks hardly rising to show she was alive. She had bad cuts and bruises all over her body and one of her legs was strapped to a board, as if she'd twisted or broken it. She was unconscious and, as Gokudera tried to touch his mind to hers, he was scared by the emptiness that he was met with.

"Uri…" he mumbled sadly before he forced himself to look away.

The other side of the room, however, was much, much worse. Hibari was lying in a bed next to Gokudera's, only a couple of feet between them. The storm guardian could almost reach out and touch Hibari's face (though that was extremely creepy and he wasn't going to try). The man was deathly pale, and he not only had an IV but a breathing mask strapped to his face. That made Gokudera inhale; had he suffered some kind of lung damage? Was it from being buried? He also had bandages wrapped all around his chest and torso, suggesting that he'd damaged several of his innards. He too was covered in scrapes and bruises of all shapes and sizes and Gokudera could just make out Roll's small shape in an incubation tank as well on the other side of Hibari's bed.

Just looking at the three of them made Gokudera want to throw up. They had all suffered these injuries because he'd been shot, because he was _weak_.

Gokudera felt like he'd lain there for an eternity before Uri woke up. Meanwhile, his old insecurities had been relentlessly attacking his tired mind. He'd trained a lot since he was fourteen, and he'd _thought_ he'd improved, but in the end it was just like it always was: he was so weak he couldn't take care of himself, and that caused others to be injured trying to protect him. Like Hibari, like Uri, like Roll…

He was useless. Why the hell was he Tsuna's right-hand man?! He didn't deserve it. He was only good at doing paperwork; he couldn't protect anyone, like the rest of his job entitled, when it really mattered. Hell, Hibari could be dead in that bed over there, doomed to never wake up…

That thought hurt more than Gokudera had thought it would.

The storm guardian pushed the thought out of his head. He shouldn't start thinking stuff like that, not when he didn't really know how badly Hibari was injured. Though, no matter the outcome, Gokudera couldn't stop the guilt that Hibari's wounds were his fault that ate at him until he thought it was better that he resigned as right-hand man. Yamamoto, just as he'd always been, was obviously the better choice…

Gokudera was surprised to note that he was crying and, for once he decided to just let it all out. After all, there was no one awake to witness his self-pity and suffering…

 _Hayato?_ A soft mind touched his, as if to reject his last thought, and Gokudera flinched in surprise.

 _U-Uri?_ He looked over at the storm cat lying in her incubation tank to see that her eyes were open and she was staring at him attentively. Gokudera's shoulders stiffened and he raised an arm to wipe the tears off his face, embarrassed and ashamed he'd been caught crying. _You doing okay?_

 _I'm in pain, but it will pass. I'm just happy knowing you're okay._ Her gaze seemed to sharpen and focus more intently on Gokudera's face. _At least, I think you're okay. What's wrong?_

Reluctantly, Gokudera opened his mind to her and shared all of his thoughts with her. He knew she would pry if he didn't, but he still felt uncomfortable, even with her, sharing his most private feelings. He showed her mostly in emotions and pictures, as he was never good at phrasing his thoughts into words, and they had always communicated best that way.

By the time he'd finished, Uri had pulled herself into a sitting position. She lifted her uninjured paw and pressed it to the glass.

 _Hayato, I don't think you're weak. How could you be, when you work harder than even Tsuna does sometimes? You always give everything your all. You were willing to give your life to ensure that Hibari and I could keep fighting. That, to me, is not a weakness: it is a strength. You cared more about the lives of your companions than did about yourself, and it requires strength to be that selfless._

 _Plus, how could you blame yourself for our injuries when you did everything in your power to prevent them? You alone devised the plan that would cause the least harm to us; you alone provided all three of us with sun flames until you blacked out; you alone protected Hibari, despite his complaining, from getting speared. It's not possible for you to deflect every bullet, or put out every flame, and yet you try to every single time. No one can fault you for that._

 _And you think Yamamoto would be a better choice to the right-hand man position? Do you think he'd ever have been able to come up with a plan that worked so successfully like you did? Do you think that idiot could have the attention span to do all of the paperwork you do, to attend all the meetings Tsuna calls you to, to fight with Hibari until he hands over his report like you do?_

Uri's thoughts washed over Gokudera in waves, and it took him a moment to piece together everything she was trying to express to him. When he did, he couldn't believe the amount of emotion that welled up inside of him. _No one_ had ever said anything like that to him. Without really realizing it, he'd believed for a long time that no one really appreciated anything that he did.

 _Do you mean that, Uri?_

 _Of course I do._ Uri lashed her tail. _I'm telling you all of these things because I know you would never believe them otherwise. You have a very low self-esteem, but you deserve to look at yourself and feel pride every once in a while. And I know Tsuna knows all of this as well._

 _Know?_ Gokudera allowed himself a small smile. _What do you mean you know?_

 _I've talked to Natsu,_ Uri licked her uninjured paw, as if it meant nothing. _He said Tsuna is often talking about how grateful he is for your help or support in something._

 _Since when can you talk to the other box animals?_ Gokudera asked, momentarily ignoring the warm feeling in his chest at Uri's words. It meant the world to him that Tsuna appreciated what he did, that the family he'd been looking for forever may actually think of him in the same way. However, he once again didn't know how to express that thought, so he just let Uri feel it in his mind before changing the subject.

 _Since forever,_ Uri sniffed before she nodded in the direction of Hibari's bed. _I've been talking to Roll over there while you were figuring out how to express your thoughts._

 _What?!_ Gokudera, with effort, turned his head back in the other direction. He couldn't see Roll very well from his position, so there was nothing that told him the hedgehog was even awake.

Uri was silent for a moment before she said, _He says he wants to thank you for saving Hibari._

Gokudera scoffed, trying to hide the warm feeling that welled up in his chest at Roll's words. _Yeah, well tell him that Hibari should stop getting himself stuck under various pieces of building._

"How about I drop a piece of the ceiling on you, then?" Hibari's growl broke the silence, his voice slight muffled by the breathing mask, causing Gokudera to jump so violently he almost knocked his IV out of his arm.

"What the—?! Roll, I didn't tell you to tell _him_ that!" Gokudera screeched, his irritation raising a little as he heard that fucking hedgehog _chortle_ at him, before he glared daggers in Hibari's direction. "How long have you been awake, anyway?!"

"Long enough." Hibari glared daggers back before he shut his eyes again and resettled against his pillow.

"Pah, whatever," Gokudera grumbled as he shifted around before getting comfortable once more. He turned his head to the side, stubbornly not looking at Hibari, though a smirk soon developed on his lips as he remembered something. "But look who decided kindly not to unplug my IV in the night."

Hibari's angry growl was more than worth it. "Watch it, herbivore – I may still do it."

Gokudera just laughed and, as Uri's mind touched his while she purred, he realized that a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

"You've really gotten close to Hibari, huh?" Yamamoto asked as he sat in a chair across from Gokudera's desk a week after the bomber had been discharged from the hospital. The rain guardian had insisted on coming in to chat, claiming that Gokudera looked tired and needed a distraction. Though the storm guardian did admit he was dead on his feet, he couldn't afford to get distracted. However, he let the baseball idiot come in, just as long as he was able to do work while he was there.

"I guess," Gokudera grumbled, not looking up from his papers. He was only half listening.

"That's pretty amazing! Not a lot of people can say that," Yamamoto hummed. Gokudera could feel him staring at him, and that combined with something in his tone made the bomber look up at him.

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Yamamoto said quickly, a smile creeping onto his face. Gokudera glared hard at him, not believing his façade for a moment, before he let it go and returned to his papers.

"I just think he likes you."

Dropping his pen, the storm guardian fiercely glanced at Yamamoto who still sat there, smiling like a doofus like he hadn't just dropped a bomb. Gokudera was having trouble even processing what he was saying. " _What?!_ "

"I think he likes you," Yamamoto repeated. He was obviously enjoying himself. "You know, the 'like you' as in wanting to kiss and have s—"

" _ **I know what you fucking meant!"**_ Gokudera screeched, a blush flushing his face against his will. What the hell was wrong with Yamamoto?! He forced himself to calm down, though it didn't really help any. "Why the hell would you think that?!"

"Well just think about it." Yamamoto leaned his elbows on Gokudera's desk as he tried to mock being serious. His stupid grin ruined it, however. "He's never let anyone get close to him like you are. You yourself told me that there were many times when he could've bitten you to death, and yet he didn't."

"Yeah, so what?" Gokudera was getting uncomfortable; annoyingly, he was starting to believe him.

"Nothing," Yamamoto hummed as he leaned back in his chair. "I just think he likes you."

"Don't you think you've said that enough times?" Gokudera grumbled before he returned to his paperwork. However, he annoyingly found he was distracted.

Yamamoto had absolutely no basis on his claim, and yet the storm guardian couldn't help but wonder if maybe he was on to something. The baseball idiot's gut had been right before. He _had_ gotten close to Hibari like no one else had… Shaking his head, Gokudera forced the thoughts out of his mind. There was no way Hibari liked him; he didn't like anyone. He liked being alone and absolutely hated emotions.

Just because Gokudera was a little closer than the others did _not_ mean that Hibari was in love with him. Besides, it wasn't like Gokudera liked him either.

"He doesn't like me," Gokudera growled after a while. He glared up at the rain guardian, daring him to argue with him.

Yamamoto just shrugged, though that damn smile was still on his face. "If you say so."

* * *

A couple of days after his argument with Yamamoto (that was all it could be called, as Gokudera refused to call it a lecture), Hibari invited Gokudera to his home for tea. Though the storm guardian was surprised by the invitation, he didn't hesitate to accept. It was the first time he would spend time with the cloud guardian outside of battle and the hospital, and Gokudera couldn't help but feel curious. Though he knew curiosity killed the cat, he didn't feel threatened by Hibari anymore; if he could tease the skylark and get no reaction, then he could sit and have tea with him without getting killed.

So Gokudera found himself sitting in Hibari's living room, staring at the nature outside with a cup of tea in his hand. The skylark sat near him, a comfortable space between them, in a dark gray kimono and his own cup of tea. Neither spoke, and yet Gokudera felt a peace transcend over him.

It wasn't long however, before the silence was broken.

"Gokudera." Said storm guardian was startled out of his zone at Hibari's voice, surprised that the cloud guardian had not only disturbed the peace but had called him by his name instead of 'herbivore'.

"Yeah?"

He saw Hibari glance at him out of the corner of his eye before the cloud guardian looked back outside. "I despise emotions."

"I know." Gokudera couldn't help but wonder where this conversation was leading. To be honest, it kind of freaked him out. They hadn't talked since they'd been released from the hospital, but honestly the storm guardian still felt a little uncomfortable in the cloud guardian's presence. He felt like no matter what he did he couldn't destroy the relationship that was developing between them, especially when he'd enjoyed his time with him in the hospital _again_.

At this point, it was getting harder and harder to pretend Hibari didn't exist.

"So why do you force me to feel emotion?" The accusation in Hibari's voice shocked Gokudera enough to force him out of his thoughts and make him turn and look at the skylark. He was glaring right back at him, though Hibird nestling into his hair didn't make him look as intimidating as he could. The bomber just stared at him for a while, trying to decipher what the hell he meant.

"…What?"

"You heard me." Hibari leaned towards Gokudera threateningly, his eyes flashing with an unknown emotion. The storm guardian swallowed, nervousness suddenly spreading through him as he leaned back. He forced a snarl onto his face.

"How the hell am I supposed to know what you're talking about? What emotion am I making you feel?"

Hibari closed the distance so quickly that Gokudera was delayed in processing what was happening. Before the storm guardian knew it, the cloud guardian's lips were on his and his warm hand from the tea covered his cold one. His surprise froze him in place; though only seconds could've passed, it felt like forever before Gokudera's mind kicked in and he pushed Hibari away from him.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Gokudera hissed as he rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. Panting lightly, he searched the cloud guardian's cobalt eyes. Was this for real? He didn't think Hibari would lie about something like this, but he couldn't believe it. Yamamoto's words rang in his ears.

 _I think he likes you._

Gokudera would hate to hear the bastard say, _I told you so._

"Why do you make me feel this way?" Hibari growled, his eyes boring strongly into Gokudera's. "What have you been doing to me besides making me owe you favors?"

Gokudera's mouth hung open for a moment before he returned Hibari's glare and started spitting at him. "I can't believe you're fucking blaming _me_ for the fact that you like me! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Hibari recoiled, as if he'd been slapped, and the truth stung just as hard for Gokudera. Hibari _liked_ him, in a way that he never thought was possible for the cloud guardian. And with him, of all people! The storm guardian really didn't know how to deal with the information, though the skylark didn't seem to be doing much better. Gokudera didn't know how someone could be so oblivious to their own emotions…

…Wow, Gokudera was a fucking hypocrite.

They stared at each other for a while, the silence thick with tension. Gokudera was struggling to identify his own emotions, as he was just as oblivious when it came to that as he'd been internally criticizing Hibari for. There was definitely some kind of fear there; he didn't know if Hibari would react violently to the realization that he had let someone in, because Gokudera sure as hell would, and he was worried how he would fare if the skylark were to attack him. The cloud guardian was definitely ten times stronger than he was, even if Gokudera had seen him in all of his weak moments, even if they were both still slightly injured.

But still…

Underneath the fear was a deeper, rawer _hunger_ that Gokudera really couldn't identify. It thrived in the tension that lay heavy between them, and something about it told the storm guardian that, if Hibari decided to kiss him again, there was a good chance he would be kissing back.

But why the fuck—?

And suddenly Hibari was upon him. Gokudera didn't even see him move, despite the fact that his eyes hadn't left the skylark. He had just _teleported_ ; and suddenly the storm guardian found himself pushed onto his back on the floor, Hibari's lips smashing into his as the cloud guardian leaned over him. His knees were planted on either side of Gokudera's hips and he was pinning the bomber's arms on the ground where they lay, his icy fingers circling his pale wrists.

Gokudera grunted as he tried to struggle free before he realized that Hibari's kissing felt _fucking nice._ And as the storm guardian looked up into the cloud guardian's cobalt eyes, his gaze so _predatory_ it sent shivers down the bomber's spine, Gokudera gave in to the hunger and kissed back with a ferocity he didn't know he had.

For a moment, Gokudera didn't think Hibari was going to do much more than kiss him until the skylark bit down on his bottom lip, hard, to the point of drawing blood. And at that point Gokudera completely submitted to the pleasure as he opened his mouth, moaning lowly into Hibari's. The cloud guardian didn't waste a second, plunging his tongue into Gokudera's mouth and lavishing it with rough, fast strokes. The storm guardian tried weakly to lick at Hibari's tongue, but the skylark just lavished it in turn, drawing small moans out of Gokudera again.

Despite the pleasure his mouth was receiving, something deep inside of Gokudera decided it just wasn't _enough_ and from that point on the storm guardian was acting on complete instinct.

Remembering that he had a body that existed outside of his mouth, Gokudera lifted both of his legs to wrap them around Hibari's waist, using them to bring him down and hold him in place as the storm guardian grinded into his crotch. Hibari's breaths hitched in Gokudera's mouth and the storm guardian felt his pulse quicken and heat pool in his abdomen as the skylark started grinding back.

Soon Gokudera felt the cloud guardian's warm hands leave his wrists, and with their new freedom the storm guardian wound his fingers into Hibari's hair as he drew their heads even closer together, their teeth clashing together as their tongues danced around each other. At some point, Gokudera realized that Hibari had withdrawn his hands so he could unbutton the storm guardian's shirt, but the bomber was too far gone to even consciously realize what that potentially meant.

All he knew is that he _wanted_ it, wanted Hibari, in some animalistic way that had quite suddenly taken over all of his cognitive reason.

As soon as Hibari had finished unbuttoning his shirt, he pushed it down and out of the way. He then abruptly stopped kissing Gokudera, who found himself whining at the lack of attention his mouth was getting. Focusing on their grinding instead, and enjoying the friction of their hard-ons rubbing together through their clothing, Gokudera almost missed it as Hibari started trailing sloppy, wet kisses down his neck.

He did, however, notice the ferocious bite the skylark delivered to the junction between his neck and shoulder; a moan of pleasure mixed in with a yelp of pain escaped the storm guardian, but despite that Gokudera moved his head away, giving Hibari better access. As the cloud guardian continued to bite him in various places on his neck while the bomber wriggled in pain and pleasure, Gokudera wondered somewhere in the back of his mind if this is what Hibari had meant all that time when he'd threatened to bite him to death. Had the skylark all along been trying to broadcast his sadism to the world?

… Nah, that was too weird, even for him. Besides, it didn't seem like Hibari had even realized he _had_ sexual desires until now.

Hibari growled suddenly before he scooped Gokudera up in his arms and stood, clumsily beginning to carry the bomber somewhere while he brought his attention back to lavishing Gokudera's mouth. Caught off guard, the storm guardian struggled a little bit before he managed to find a safe hold by wrapping his arms around Hibari's shoulders and keeping his legs around his waist. He was momentarily distracted, wondering how the hell Hibari had the strength to pick him up, before he remembered that this was the same skylark who had carried him up a fucking ladder when he was nearly dead. And that thought quickly flew out the window when he realized he could _feel_ Hibari's erection straining through his kimono, which only added to Gokudera's own arousal.

Hibari had barely placed him down on his bed before they were at it again, grinding and kissing sloppily as Hibari fumbled with Gokudera's belt buckle and Gokudera struggled to help the skylark out of his kimono. The bomber could feel blood dripping down his chest from where Hibari had bit him, but he hardly paid any attention as he appreciated the view of the skylark's body. He was beautiful, in a strange sort of way, and a lot more toned than Gokudera would've guessed, though he supposed that made sense.

He suddenly felt embarrassed about his own body when he looked into Hibari's eyes, not sure how to feel about the way the skylark was looking over him. Luckily he didn't have long to think about it before Hibari was on him again, trailing bites all the way down his torso as Gokudera pulled his pants off all the way, kicking them to the floor, before assisting Hibari out of his boxers.

It was only when they were both completely naked, and Gokudera was grinding his erection directly onto Hibari's as the cloud guardian continued to lavish his skin with pleasuring and painful bites, did something in the back of Gokudera's mind scream at him that he needed to stop what he was doing. A tickle at the base of his skull suggested that he walk away, that he would regret it if he let things continue, that he needed to stop for the sake of his own pride and well-being.

His mind was usually right, but his body was not having any of it.

His arousal had been clouding his thoughts for some time now, and as Hibari took his hard-on in his hand and began stroking him, it was even more impossible for any logical thought to overrule the immense pleasure he was feeling. So that thought too flew out the window and Gokudera gave it no further attention as he moaned and bucked into Hibari's hand.

Abruptly Hibari withdrew from him completely, causing Gokudera to whine from the sudden lack of contact. Panting, his heart rate still impossibly fast, the bomber watched as the skylark got off the bed and dug around in a drawer he had in a dresser nearby. Eventually he found what he was looking for and pulled out a bottle of lube and a condom, both of which he brought back to the bed and the aroused storm guardian. Gokudera raised an eyebrow as he met Hibari's eyes. Did he do this often? Or was he just prepared for the off-chance that someone would come into his room looking for gay sex?

Hibari just scoffed and looked away, avoiding Gokudera's silent question. The bomber let the subject drop, as he really didn't care what the hell the skylark did with his love life as long as he was coming back to pleasure him again.

The warning bells went off in Gokudera's head again, but he again ignored them.

The skylark crawled between his legs but, before he could do anything, Gokudera pulled him up into a sloppy kiss, their teeth crashing together sending shivers down the bomber's spine.

Hibari humored him for a while, teasing him with his tongue and biting his lips when he could, but eventually drew away again. He pushed Gokudera back on the bed before he leaned down between the bomber's legs, covering his fingers with lube as he planted another vicious bite on Gokudera's inner thigh. The bomber flinched a little at the pain, but he opened his legs wider to give the skylark better access.

Doubt started wriggling in his mind as Hibari trailed small bites down his leg; was he really okay with doing this? Wasn't there some reason why he'd been avoiding Hibari?

However, he disregarded all of these thoughts yet again as the skylark pushed a finger into his entrance. Hissing in pain and discomfort, Gokudera tried not to squirm as Hibari prepared him, opting instead to dig his fingers into the skylark's scalp. He had never had sex before, but he knew of the general concept; what he wondered, and didn't know, was if it was supposed to hurt as much as it did.

When Hibari was done preparing him, and his fingers' presence had become more pleasuring than painful, the skylark withdrew his fingers and rolled a condom over his pulsing erection. He then took the bomber's mouth in a rough kiss as he lined himself up, his tip brushing against Gokudera's entrance causing the storm guardian to shiver.

And suddenly the doubt was back tenfold; he was letting Hibari take his virginity. He was letting someone he'd talked to mostly out of bare necessity and had spent most of his life trying to ignore become intimate with him in the largest way possible. He was connecting with Hibari when he didn't even know if he liked him; what if that first kiss had just been the skylark's declaration of sexual desire, and not love?

Which emotion did Gokudera really prefer?

"W-wait," Gokudera panted just as Hibari was about to push himself in. The skylark's eyes narrowed as he met the bomber's gaze; Gokudera couldn't tell if it was from anger or something else.

"What?"

"Are you… Do you really want to do this?" Gokudera averted Hibari's eyes. He was suddenly very aware of how open he'd laid himself for the skylark, of how aroused he was, of how beautiful the cloud guardian looked hovering over him like that.

He couldn't tell if he was scared or impatient for the probable outcome. He still had time to stop it if he wanted to…

Hibari huffed before he let his head fall down between Gokudera's shoulder and neck. When he spoke, his breath blew gently into the storm guardian's ear. "You wouldn't be here if I didn't want to do this."

Gokudera _shivered_. Hibari had always been predatory in his actions thus far, but his tone then was almost _possessive_. And for some reason that sent more blood rushing south, his member starting to ache from the lack of attention it was receiving. The storm guardian let out a shaky breath.

 _Shit._ He had absolutely no control over the situation.

"The real question is: do _you_ want to do this?" Hibari's words ghosted over Gokudera's earlobe as he moved to nibble on his ear, his sharp canines lightly piercing the storm guardian's skin.

Gokudera's fingers tightened in Hibari's hair (he hadn't realized he was still clutching the cloud guardian's scalp). As much as he was starting to fear and doubt his position, he couldn't deny what he was feeling: _god_ did he want it. He wanted Hibari to touch every inch of his skin, mixing in pain with pleasure as he fucked him senseless. He had never been this sexually aroused, had never experienced anything like it, but he knew he _wanted_ it.

If there was a downside, Gokudera was too far gone to see it.

"Fuck," Gokudera sighed as Hibari continued to litter his ear and neck with small bites. He could feel the skylark's erection twitching against his opening, and such a strong wave of desire flood over him that he spent no more time considering his decision. _"Yes."_

Hibari didn't wait for another signal. Almost roughly, he pushed himself into Gokudera, who hissed in a mixture of pain and pleasure. His toes curled against the mattress and his fingers tightened their clutch on Hibari's scalp as the cloud guardian began moving in and out of him at a pace that almost seemed gentle.

Gokudera didn't have time to wonder on that, however, because it didn't last for long.

With each thrust, Hibari became faster and rougher, his pants mixing with Gokudera's as the two ravished each other's mouths again. The storm guardian couldn't control his loud moans even if he'd wanted to; Hibari had an accuracy and power behind him that carried over from his fighting style. For this reason, he was able to hit Gokudera's prostate directly and hard every single time.

Though Gokudera was quickly becoming a gooey mess of pleasure, he was trying his best to not just sit there, but instead make it pleasurable for Hibari as well. He managed to dominate the skylark in his mouth, running his tongue roughly and feverishly over everything as he wrapped his legs around the cloud guardian's hips, drawing him into a better position to fuck him.

He felt a brief touch of pride when he started being able to hear Hibari's moans.

However, being sexually inexperienced, Gokudera was unable to last for as long as he'd hoped. All too soon it seemed, his vision blasted white as he hit his orgasm, the hardest one he'd ever had in his life. Hibari didn't seem to mind that his semen was now all over his stomach and instead rode him harder until he hit his own orgasm. Gokudera was entering his post-release bliss as the skylark rode out his orgasm so that, by the time Hibari pulled out and discarded his condom, the storm guardian was lying listlessly on the bed in post-sex contentment.

Gokudera couldn't even find it in him to react as Hibari plopped down next to him in the bed, their breaths mingling as the skylark pulled him into another kiss. It was still sloppy, but surprisingly gentle considering how the cloud guardian had been earlier.

Looking into Hibari's cobalt eyes, Gokudera wondered where this left them now. He wondered if it was still possible to go back to pretending not to notice each other, to go back to the uneasy friendship they'd had before.

The bomber didn't even know if that was what he wanted.

Before he could ask, though, he felt his eyelids start to grow heavy. The exhaustion he felt made him uncaring to what would happen; he would just deal with it when he came to it. He wasn't used to being able to fall asleep so easily, since insomnia was fucking horrible, but he figured it was just from using a lot of energy having sex with Hibari.

 _Having sex with Hibari._

The thought froze him as the reality began to sink in. What the fuck had he just done?! Gokudera glanced sharply up at the cloud guardian again, but found he was already asleep. His heart was pounding frantically and he felt like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and yet he could feel his body following Hibari's. His eyelids were so heavy it was more of a hassle keeping them open.

Succumbing to sleep, and subconsciously curling into Hibari as he did so, Gokudera didn't have the time or energy to reflect on how he'd just made a huge mistake.


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N) Aaaand actually this is the end! XD**  
 **I want to thank everyone who read this, favorited, and/or reviewed, you guys rock! I'm always happy to see that khr and 1859 is still important in some people's hearts ^-^**  
 **I hope you all enjoy the ending, and hopefully I'll see you guys again somewhere!**

Gokudera was unable to sit for almost a week after he'd slept with Hibari. He was forced to wear a scarf or a turtleneck for the same amount of time, so no one would see the bruising bite marks all over his neck, and he couldn't look anyone in the eye, _especially_ not Yamamoto who somehow seemed to know what the storm guardian was hiding, based off of the knowing looks the rain guardian kept sending him.

It was embarrassing as fuck, and Gokudera seemed to have a permanent, mortified blush on his cheeks whenever he thought about it.

What the hell had he been _thinking?_

At least he was able to avoid seeing Hibari; they usually never saw each other outside of battle and the cloud guardian thankfully hadn't invited Gokudera over for round two. Just the thought sent chills up the storm guardian's spine.

Gokudera was physically unable to think about what had happened. He had absolutely _no_ idea why he'd allowed Hibari to fuck him; he'd like to say that the cloud guardian had forced himself on him, but he definitely hadn't. Not after Gokudera had enjoyed it so much and had given his consent.

And that, perhaps, was the root of the problem: Gokudera was afraid to face how he felt. He was afraid to dig deeper within himself to discover why it was he'd had such a good time; why he couldn't keep the cloud guardian out of his thoughts; why he wouldn't mind being asked back for a round two. He was scared of finding something that suggested that he was in it for more than just the sex. He was scared that what he felt for Hibari was much more complicated than irritated acknowledgement and the relief of his sexual tension.

He was scared to admit that he, the impenetrable Hayato Gokudera, had let someone as destructive and uncaring as Hibari in. He was scared that he was lowering his barriers to someone he couldn't trust.

And so he submerged his conflicted emotions with work and did his best not to think about Hibari. It was a relief when the pain went away and the bites faded; there were two less things that made him remember. For a while, the method worked; Hibari never left his room except for missions (Gokudera was never more thankful that the cloud guardian preferred working solo) and the storm guardian stayed as far away from Hibari's side of the base as he possibly could. He went on a month long mission with Yamamoto, a blissful four weeks free of paranoia and painfully suffocating thoughts of Hibari.

However, it didn't last for long.

It was a week after Gokudera got back that Hibari came to his office. The storm guardian had just been working on some boring old paperwork, Uri purring on his lap, when he felt a presence at his door. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he looked up to see the lanky figure of the cloud guardian standing in his doorway, a weird expression on his face. Gokudera quickly looked back down, a blush creeping down his neck, as he ignored Hibari and prayed that he went away.

"You've been avoiding me."

"What do you care?" Gokudera spat as he bored holes in his desk. He couldn't meet Hibari's gaze as the cloud guardian stepped into the room. He couldn't look into those beautiful cobalt eyes, that searing gaze that only made the bomber remember the event over a month ago.

He hadn't even realized that Hibari had moved from the doorway until he realized he could see out of the corner of his eye the purple of his boxes hanging from his hips. Gokudera stubbornly kept his gaze down as he signed his name on a document, even though he'd been unable to read anything on the page.

"Gokudera." The way Hibari said his name made the storm guardian shiver, and he hated himself for it. He hated that the cloud guardian could so easily get under his skin.

"I thought I was just an herbivore to you," Gokudera muttered icily, his stomach twisting uncomfortably. He wished that the cloud guardian would go back to calling him an herbivore; it made everything easier. It made it easier to pretend that nothing had ever happened between them.

Suddenly Gokudera felt Hibari's icy grip on his chin as the cloud guardian forced him to meet his gaze. The bomber was surprised by the anger boiling in Hibari's eyes and he felt himself recoil inwardly as he tried vainly to push the cloud guardian away from him.

"Why are you being like this?" Hibari hissed. There was an emotion underlying his anger, but Gokudera was scared to identify it. "Did what happened mean nothing to you?"

"Are you saying it meant something to you?!" Gokudera hissed right back, grabbing Hibari's arm tightly as he glared into his cobalt eyes. "Because all I got from you was lust – and lust doesn't mean anything to me!"

Hibari recoiled, as if he'd been slapped. He let go of Gokudera's chin as he stepped back, just looking at him. The storm guardian found once again he couldn't meet his gaze. His gut was churning with anger and doubt and _longing_ and he didn't know what he wanted.

"What do I even mean to you?" Gokudera's voice cracked, and he was ashamed of the fact. "Because if you just want sex there are plenty of other people out there."

The cloud guardian was silent for a long time. Gokudera was surprised by the pain that came with his reaction; he didn't know what he'd been expecting. He knew that Hibari didn't care about anything besides his fucking pets and his fucking school and if Gokudera thought there was room for something else in his heart he was a fucking idiot.

"You're…not an herbivore," Hibari finally said, as if that answered every question Gokudera could ever have, and walked out before the storm guardian could retaliate.

The bomber sat in stunned silence for a few minutes. What the hell… What the hell was he supposed to do with that?! Screaming, Gokudera stood up from his chair, startling Uri who he'd completely forgotten was there, and tossed his stack of papers as hard as he could. When that wasn't enough, he knocked everything he possibly could off of his desk until it looked like a hurricane had blown through the room.

Panting heavily, Gokudera stared at the chaos before he backed into a wall and slid down until he was curled into a fetal position. He realized he was shaking when Uri tentatively pressed against him, her mind touching his and voicing her concern. However, he quickly blocked off his thoughts from the storm cat.

The last thing he wanted to do was talk about it. The last thing he wanted was to face the angry and ugly emotions that swirled in his gut. The last thing he wanted to think about was that he would never understand what Hibari was thinking, that he would never understand why he wanted the skylark to add him to the list of things he cared about, that despite the regret and doubt poisoning his heart he would still come running if Hibari called.

He hated it, and it made him so angry and confused that he soon felt hot tears stream down his cheeks.

 _You're not an herbivore._

What the fuck did that even mean? It meant nothing; it meant that Hibari was just avoiding the question; it meant that the cloud guardian realized Gokudera actually did enjoy eating meat. Despite all the excuses the storm guardian tried to come up with, he knew that deep down none of them were true. After all, he knew the real answer; he just couldn't bring himself to acknowledge it.

It meant that Gokudera was someone Hibari had noticed, _really_ noticed, and that they could never go back to the way things were before. It meant that he interested the cloud guardian; it meant that he wasn't just some weakling Hibari wanted to kill.

It was Hibari's way of saying he cared about him.

And that was the last thing Gokudera could handle at the moment. So he just cried, upset and confused and alone, fiercely ignoring Uri's attempts to talk to him. It was the first time the cat's company had done nothing to help him, and his gut churned with bitterness and longing.

Hibari had really fucked him up.

* * *

He didn't see Hibari again for a while after that. While most of him was relieved, there was a part of the storm guardian that felt uneasy with the whole thing.

His thoughts were starting to get…out of control. Sometimes when he'd be spacing out, he'd randomly start thinking about the cloud guardian before he caught himself and forced himself to focus on his work again. He would walk down the halls and hear footsteps, and there would be a part of him that would perk up and hope and long for the person to be Hibari. He would always be disappointed, but he was more concerned about why he wanted to see the cloud guardian in the first place.

These events were happening more than Gokudera would like to admit, and he didn't know what to do about it. Why couldn't he just forget about that stupid skylark?

 _You're in love with Hibari_ , Uri blurted out of nowhere one day, her tail flicking. She was curled lazily into a ball on the small cushion Gokudera had placed on his desk for her. His pen stopped, momentarily, before he finished scribbling his signature and tossed the paper aside. He only spared Uri one glare before he moved on to the next document.

 _No I'm not_.

 _You can't hide your emotions from me, Hayato._ Uri sat up from her crouch and moved herself over to sit on top of Gokudera's paperwork, effectively stopping him from continuing his work. _You want to mate with that man._

 _Fuck, don't say it like that!_ Gokudera sat back, crossing his arms angrily, as he glared at his cat. He really didn't want to talk about this right now. _Will you get off my damn paperwork?!_

 _Why won't you admit that you like him?_

"Because he's a bastard and an asshole and he wouldn't give me a second thought if I just fell down and died!" Gokudera shouted, not even realizing he'd spoken aloud until an underling popped into his office to make sure he was alright. Once he'd assured him (though he had to admit growling at him and denying everything wasn't very convincing) and the underling left, Gokudera forced his shoulders to relax. He stroked Uri's spine absentmindedly as he tried to calm down. _He's a freak. He's a bloodthirsty freak with a strange obsession with biting people and I don't want to get any more involved with a bastard like that. He doesn't give a rat's ass about me and I don't give a rat's ass about him._

 _But that's not true—_

 _Goddammit, Uri, fine! Yes! I'm fucking in love with a stupid bastard who has no qualms with killing me!_ Gokudera violently shoved Uri off of his desk and angrily returned to his paperwork. _I don't want to talk about it._

Uri yowled and hissed at him as she was pushed from her spot, but said no more besides letting a trickle of her annoyance with him seep across their tail sticking straight up in the air, she stalked out of his office, leaving Gokudera feeling angry and ashamed of himself and his feelings.

Because maybe he really couldn't deny it anymore – at some point he had fallen hopelessly in love with the cloud guardian. The thought made him sick.

Hopeless was the perfect word for it. What the fuck was wrong with Gokudera? How could he have fallen in love with someone as crazy and bloodthirsty as Hibari? What did he see in him? And it wasn't like Hibari could feel anything like love, anyway. Yeah, the cloud guardian had told him he cared about him, but what did that mean? Yamamoto cared about him, and the rain guardian was the only one who really believed they were friends in that relationship. Maybe Hibari would come help him if he needed it, but hell they'd been doing that inertly since day one. Nothing had changed.

Only Gokudera had changed, and he hated himself for it.

Why had Hibari only shown his good sides to him? No one else knew that the skylark could smile in amusement; no one else knew that sometimes he actually needed to lean on someone; no one else knew that he could be surprisingly gentle in bed.

Why did Gokudera know? Why had Hibari let him find out?

Tsuna sent Gokudera on a mission a couple of days later, and the storm guardian was no closer to figuring out what to do about his problem with Hibari. He was tempted to just screw it and leave things the way they were, but even he didn't delude himself enough to miss that it was really affecting his performance.

The mission should've been easy. Just a little skirmish over drug-dealing, one of the missions that only required violence if necessary, an area that was usually Gokudera's expertise.

Of course everything had gone wrong. He'd been so distracted, so tense, so emotionally drained that everything the other mafia family said got on his nerves. He found himself being rude and crass, his teenage self rearing its ugly head despite his years of work to improve his character, or at least to pretend that he had. The family had pulled out guns, expectedly, and Gokudera had had to fight his way out.

Needless to say, the mission ended with Gokudera in the hospital and the drug-dealing still going on. Needless to say, Tsuna was not happy with him.

"What happened over there, anyway?" Yamamoto asked a few hours after Gokudera had finally gained consciousness. He was his only visitor so far, apparently inclined since the storm guardian was no longer rooming with a certain murderous cloud guardian.

Gokudera sighed deeply, his weariness seeping through to his bones. "I learned that I'm still a teenager when I'm upset."

"We all knew that," Yamamoto tried to joke, but Gokudera just glared at him.

"It's not fucking funny, baseball idiot. I ruined any good relations we could've had with that family, I failed to stop the drug dealing, and Tsuna is pissed. My inability to control my temper, or my emotions for that matter, completely fucked up everything. It could not have gone worse, and I have no one to blame but myself."

Yamamoto made a small humming noise. "Okay, but Tsuna's not _really_ mad…"

Gokudera glared at him again. "Stop lying to me, Yamamoto – you promised me you never would."

The baseball idiot, for once, didn't have a good comeback for that. He was silent for a moment before he, unfortunately, opened his mouth again. "What had you so wound up, anyway?"

"You already know," Gokudera grumbled.

"Cloud nine?"

That was their codename for Hibari. A couple of weeks back, Yamamoto had finally gotten on Gokudera's case about what he was so down in the dumps about. The storm guardian didn't want to tell him, but he was severely persistent and Gokudera found it was more annoying not to. The rain guardian had been surprisingly gentle and understanding when the bomber had spilled the beans about everything that happened with Hibari ( _minus_ the sex – Gokudera was keeping that to himself) and to be honest it had felt really nice for Gokudera to get the whole thing off his chest. Though he still didn't know why they needed a fucking codename for him (fucking Yamamoto).

When Gokudera nodded to confirm Yamamoto's suspicions, the rain guardian sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I still think you should talk to him."

"Hibari doesn't talk; he bites," Gokudera growled, mainly to be stubborn.

"Maybe he's just as confused as you are," Yamamoto said, ignoring Gokudera's snappy comment.

Gokudera sighed in frustration. He was really starting to regret letting Yamamoto know what was going on. "I doubt he even thinks about it. Why should he care?"

"Why should who care about what?" A voice suddenly said from the doorway, causing both Gokudera and Yamamoto to jump. When the storm guardian glanced up towards where a dark figure was walking in, he felt a stone settle in the pit of his stomach. Dammit, this was the last thing he needed right now.

"H-Hibari!" Yamamoto stuttered as he stood up so abruptly from his chair that he knocked it over.

The skylark glowered at him before he pulled a tonfa out of nowhere. "Get out."

"Hey," Gokudera complained, annoyed at Hibari's rudeness to one of the few people he could actually call his friend, but no one else in the room was listening to him.

"O-oh yeah, uh, I was just leaving anyway," Yamamoto blabbed lamely before he just about ran out of the room.

Gokudera sighed in frustration and anxiety. That stupid baseball idiot always had his back _except_ when it really mattered. He could talk behind Hibari's back as much as he wanted, but as soon as the skylark was actually present he ran out of the room with his tail between his legs.

What a fucking coward.

Once he was sure Yamamoto was gone, Hibari turned back to Gokudera who was doing his best not to meet the skylark's gaze. He couldn't run now, but god did he want to.

"What the hell do you want?"

 _Might as well get it over with,_ a voice in Gokudera's head said, and it took him a while to realize it was Uri's voice and not his. The storm cat must've tapped in to his thoughts when she'd sensed his distress. Lately Gokudera had been pushing her away, too upset and too angry at himself to accept her support, but now he welcomed her.

He'd need all the help he could get facing Hibari in the flesh.

Hibari stared down at him for a few moments. Gokudera wasn't even sure he was blinking. He could feel his face heating up the more the skylark stared at him and he was using every ounce of self-control he had to keep the blush off his cheeks. He didn't want the cloud guardian to have any idea what he did to him.

"What have you done to yourself?" Hibari finally said.

Gokudera blinked. "… What?"

"That mission should've been easy for you."

Opening his mouth, Gokudera had every intention to give some sarcastic retort. However, he soon realized he didn't know what to say. There was no excuse; Hibari was right after all, and the bomber knew it. And it wasn't like he could tell the skylark what had happened. So he closed his mouth and sighed deeply through his nose.

"Yeah. It should've been."

Hibari hovered for a moment longer before he picked up Yamamoto's fallen chair and sat down in it. Gokudera felt his hopes plummeting; so much for a short visit.

"I…" Hibari finally broke the silence, though it sounded like getting every word out was painful for him, "I don't understand this."

Gokudera scoffed. "That makes two of us, then."

"I don't understand why you're not an herbivore anymore." Gokudera could feel Hibari's eyes boring into him, and for some reason he found himself unable to avoid his gaze anymore. When he met the skylark's eyes, he was surprised by the emotions swirling in his cobalt eyes.

… Since when did he let his emotions show?

"Hibari…" Gokudera faltered, unsure of what he really wanted to say. "Why did you invite me for tea that one time?"

The skylark leaned back in his chair. "I don't know. Roll suggested it."

For some reason, the explanation made Gokudera laugh outright. Hibari's eyes widened a little as the bomber put his arm over his face, trying unsuccessfully to calm the hard laughter shaking his shoulders. Though he felt the laughter was badly timed, he couldn't deny the relief it brought with it as it broke the tight tension.

"Can you do anything without your box animal?" Gokudera teased when he could finally breathe.

"It didn't seem a bad idea at the time." Hibari scowled before he gave Gokudera a look. "It still doesn't."

Gokudera's laughter died in his throat. Hibari had enjoyed that time, too? Perhaps he should've been able to guess that, but the news still shocked the bomber. The skylark had lowered his walls enough to invite Gokudera into his home, into his bed, and he would gladly do it again.

The storm guardian couldn't take it anymore. He had to know.

"This may be hard for you," Gokudera said after a moment of hesitation as he rolled onto his side to see Hibari better, "But I want you to tell me how you feel about me. And none of this herbivore crap."

Hibari looked constipated for a few moments as he had some kind of inward struggle; Gokudera would have laughed if the situation wasn't so tense.

"I….love you. I don't want to, but I do."

Gokudera nearly passed out. Hibari was dead serious which made it even harder for the storm guardian to process that the skylark had _actually_ said the three words that had plagued Gokudera for months. Not even his wildest dreams had believed that Hibari could ever say something like that.

"I don't want to love you either," Gokudera said carefully, "But I do."

Hibari scoffed and, against Gokudera's further beliefs, a smirk started to tug its way onto his lips. "Well, this is quite the predicament we have for ourselves."

Gokudera hummed in response before he just looked at Hibari. The whole situation seemed surreal; for a moment he wondered if it was all a dream, if he had just imagined both of his visitors, if maybe in reality he was stuck in a coma.

"This is actually happening, right?" Gokudera asked, just to make sure. "My pain medications aren't making me loopy?"

"Who knows?" Hibari replied, the smirk fully on his face as he leaned closer to Gokudera and barred his teeth. "How about I unplug your IV and we'll see?"

"You bastard," Gokudera laughed before he reached over, grabbed Hibari by the tie, and pulled him down abruptly. He had just enough time to see the skylark's eyes widen a fraction before he mashed their lips together. Hibari was awkwardly hovering over him, and Gokudera could feel him shifting his arms around as he tried to comfortably stabilize himself, but that didn't stop him from kissing back.

No matter how hard the storm guardian tried, he didn't find a hint of lust in the kiss.

When they pulled apart, their faces still millimeters apart, Hibari leaned his forehead against Gokudera's as they stared into each other's eyes.

"You are one confusing carnivore….Hayato," Hibari murmured as he reached up to gently stroke Gokudera's cheek.

"They don't call me the storm guardian for nothing. Kyouya." Gokudera grinned before he drew the cloud guardian in for another kiss.

* * *

"I told you so," Yamamoto laughed obnoxiously, almost falling out of his chair from the force of his glee. "I _so_ told you so!"

"Shut the fuck up," Gokudera grumbled before he threw his pen at the rain guardian. He really was regretting ever allowing the baseball idiot to think they were friends, to believe himself that they were friends, and to then have the obligation to tell him everything that went on in his life. The current highlight was, of course, a certain cloud guardian he was now dating.

"I see you in a new light, Gokudera," Yamamoto teased, a wide grin on his face. "Getting close to Hibari like that? That's something else."

"You would know, since you're a coward who runs the minute he steps into a room," Gokudera snapped back, though a smile was tugging on his lips.

"He's scary, Gokudera! I don't know what you see in him."

Gokudera just rolled his eyes before he focused in on his paperwork again. Uri was on his lap, purring happily as he stroked her spine, and Yamamoto was sitting in the chair across from his desk, an arrangement that had unfortunately become a routine. The storm guardian was usually pretty good at ignoring Yamamoto, but he was more distracted than usual on that particular day. He glanced up at the clock, annoyed to find it had only been two minutes since the last time he'd looked.

The day could not be going slower.

"But seriously," Yamamoto spoke up again, effectively distracting Gokudera yet again, "I'm glad to see you're happier."

The storm guardian glanced up at him, stunned. He hadn't realized his change in mood had been so noticeable. Yeah, he knew he'd been unhappy recently, but he hadn't realized he'd been so obvious to everyone around him. Or maybe it was just Yamamoto, who, just like when they were teens, was exceptional at reading him.

 _I'm glad, too,_ Uri purred as she stretched on Gokudera's thigh, _I did not enjoy seeing you in so much pain, nor did I enjoy being shut out when I tried to help you._

Gokudera winced. _It was nothing personal, Uri. I'm sorry._

 _I know it wasn't. But it still wasn't enjoyable. I'm glad to have my usual Hayato back._ Uri flicked her tail. _And it'll be interesting to get to know Roll better._

 _Yeah, you'll have to get used to having him around,_ Gokudera smirked as he playfully flicked Uri's ears.

 _A small price to pay,_ Uri sniffed, before she let on that she didn't mean it. _It will be fun; he amuses me._

 _Glad you don't hate him like you hate Natsu then._

 _I don't hate Natsu. It's just that his weakling act just asks for him to get beaten up._

Gokudera chuckled, causing Yamamoto to look up at him with a teasing grin on his face. "You really are happier."

"Oh, shut up already," Gokudera laughed before he looked up at the clock again. A small thrill shot through him when he saw that it was _finally_ time.

Letting Uri gently off his lap, Gokudera stood up and organized his papers into orderly stacks that he could sort through on another day. He then walked around his desk, flicking Yamamoto on the forehead as he passed. "See you later, baseball idiot."

"Where are you going?" Yamamoto asked as he stood up and followed Gokudera out of his office.

Gokudera turned around and gave him a playful smirk. "I'm going to get bitten to death."

* * *

Hibari had been away on a weeklong mission, and, though he missed him, it was actually a good thing for Gokudera. The storm guardian liked his space, and Hibari did too, but the cloud guardian could be surprisingly clingy sometimes. Especially in the beginning of their relationship, as if he'd worried Gokudera would change his mind and run away again.

The week away from each other had been good for them, though Gokudera was definitely looking forward to seeing him again. He had the next episodes of _Attack on Titan_ open and ready for cuddles on the couch that would definitely turn into something else, as blood (even if it was fake and/or animated) always got Hibari aroused. It had been hard to get through _Grey's Anatomy_ because of that, but Gokudera wasn't complaining.

Any time with Hibari was a good time.

Gokudera got to Hibari's abode right on the dot, Uri trailing behind him. The storm cat always played or cuddled with Roll when the storm and cloud guardians spent time together, so she had come to enjoy their get-togethers as much as Gokudera did.

Knocking on the door, Gokudera let himself and Uri in. Inside, he was met with Hibari just standing in the middle of the room, his finger on his tie as he went to loosen it. He must've just gotten home. Glancing over, the skylark noticed Gokudera and his eyes softened (just a little, but the bomber had learned to read him pretty damn well) as he walked to meet the storm guardian halfway.

Their kiss was fiery, gentle, nostalgic, everything Hibari usually was not. Gokudera was the only one who got to see that side of him; at one time it had disturbed him, but now he lived for it.

When they parted, Hibari wrapped his arms around Gokudera's waist and buried his head in the crook of his shoulder. The storm guardian leaned his head on the skylark's as he rubbed circles between Hibari's shoulders, focusing on Hibari's soft breaths on his skin.

They stood there for a while, neither saying a word, for nothing needed to be said, before Gokudera gently nudged the skylark towards the couch to start their titan marathon.

Around the fifth episode, Hibari was already losing interest and paying more attention to leaving small bite marks on Gokudera's neck. The storm guardian was reclined in his lap, Hibari's arms wrapped around his waist and their legs spread out in front of them (they had moved to the floor to cuddle better as Gokudera had quickly gotten uncomfortable being squashed into the back of the couch). Gokudera pretended to ignore the skylark's advances, to tease him.

Hibari growled playfully after a while, tired of being ignored, before he shoved Gokudera down and crawled on top of him, _Attack on Titan_ all but forgotten. The bomber smirked and managed to chuckle before the skylark showered his face and neck with small kisses and bites.

Gokudera had learned over the months of dating the cloud guardian that he was strangely affectionate when he wanted to be. Sometimes on the mornings after when Hibari had to leave early for a mission, Gokudera would wake to find a cup of tea (Hibari refused to touch coffee, even if he knew Gokudera liked it) and a small pastry waiting for him. He always made sure there was food waiting for Uri too, which the storm cat was more than appreciative of. Sometimes Hibari would take it upon himself to attend meetings for Gokudera when he'd had an especially bad bout of depression or insomnia, allowing the storm guardian to catch up on the sleep he needed.

Who would've ever thought that sometimes Gokudera would wake up and think Hibari was sweet?

He still had his rough sides, of course. They were part of who he was and Gokudera never wanted him to change, even if that meant that they would always have pointless arguments over little things that often led to physical fights and days of not speaking to each other before one or both would come begging for the rough make-up sex that would bring everything back to normal again. Sometimes dealing with Hibari was exhausting and annoying, especially when he was insistent on getting jealous over every conversation Gokudera had with someone else (though he was getting better about that), but it was worth it when Hibari would come home late sometimes, collapse into Gokudera's arms, and neither of them would move from cuddling on the couch for hours. Besides, Gokudera knew he was just as bad sometimes, and if Hibari was willing to love him despite of it then he was too.

After all, hadn't they gone through enough shit to get where they were?

Hibari moved back to Gokudera's mouth, capturing him in a kiss that broke the storm guardian out of his thoughts. Smiling against the kiss, Gokudera opened his mouth to grant his boyfriend access as he reached up to pull the cloud guardian's tie loose.

Luckily, they didn't get much further than that before someone cleared their throat. Gokudera nearly jumped out of his skin as someone, ironically, screamed from the computer and Hibari looked up sharply to glare at whoever was interrupting them. When Gokudera felt he wasn't _too_ mortified, he looked over as well and saw Kusakabe kneeling just outside Hibari's open porch. He was stubbornly looking down at his knees, which Gokudera was immensely glad for.

"Kusakabe," Hibari growled, his voice barely constraining his anger, "If this isn't important, I suggest you run."

"Boss," Kusakabe replied, finally lifting his head to look Hibari in the eye as the cloud guardian climbed off of Gokudera. The storm guardian sat up and dusted imaginary dirt off of his clothes as he tried to force his blush away. "I'm afraid it _is_ important. The hooligans from last week are causing mayhem again."

"Fine, I'll be there in a moment," Hibari sighed angrily before he waved Kusakabe off. The Elvis impersonator bowed before he excited, rather quickly Gokudera noted.

When he was gone, Hibari turned back and leaned down to give Gokudera a quick kiss. "I have to go."

Gokudera scoffed. "You're the best damn prefect that school could ever ask for. I'm sure they don't find it at all creepy that you're still there after graduating ten years ago."

"Shut up." Hibari nipped Gokudera's nose before he straightened his tie, called Roll away from Uri, and was gone.

The storm guardian sat alone on the floor for a moment, trying to get over his disappointment. The night was supposed to just be him and Hibari, but hell, dealing with Namimori shouldn't take long. He could wait. He reached up to close Hibari's laptop, as the sound of people getting eaten was getting annoying, before he lay back down on the floor and closed his eyes. He wouldn't sleep any that night, so he might as well try to now.

Gokudera smirked to himself.

He'd gotten a lot of comments from people when they'd found out about his relationship with Hibari, expressing their surprise that the two of them got together. Most people couldn't believe that Hibari was even capable of being in a romantic relationship, while others questioned how Gokudera had gotten him to agree to it. None of them understood their relationship, they didn't understand Gokudera or Hibari, but the storm guardian didn't really mind. After all, he wasn't sure he understood it himself.

It had just happened that way.


End file.
